Hector Bellerin Set For Arsenal Start VS Anderlecht

Arsenal face stern competition on Tuesday night as his side face Anderlecht in a must win match should they hope of coming out of the toppling the group.

Arsenal lost to Borussia Dortmund in their first Champions League encounter and ended up winning their second Group stage match against a helpless Galatasary in a 5-1 encounter which saw Welbeck score his first hat trick for the Gunners.

The present injury crisis rocking the Arsenal camp means that Wenger must use available resources against Anderlecht in order to come out top of the group.

With a host of players out, Wenger looked to 19-year old rookie, Hector Bellerin, who made his first Premier League debut against Hull City. The young defender impressed while covering up for suspended defender Calum Chambers having received five yellow cards this season.

Reports suggest that the 19-year old defender could feature in Arsenal’s Champions League match; his second game in a row, and would play as right-back while suspended Chambers would play in the centre-back position alongside Mertesacker.

With ten players reportedly injured, including long term Theo Walcott who might be featuring in the match after playing 45 minutes with Arsenal’s U21 squad.

Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey, Mikel Arteta, Oliver Giroud, Mathieu Debuchy, Serge Gnarby, Yaya Sanogo, Theo Walcott, Laurent Koscielny and goalkeeper David Ospina might be missing the clash due to lack of fitness or injury.

19-year old Bellerin impressed with his performance against Hull City in a disappointing 2-2 draw and the desperate Arsenal manager has sought to put his hope in the young Spaniard by playing him in a must win match.

European clubs have been wary of coming out second in Champions’ League group stages. While strong and powerful teams come out as group head, the second in each group are matched against the first in the draws; meaning a stronger team is matched against a ‘weaker’ team which logically sees the stronger proceed to the next phase of the competition while others are either eliminated or dropped to the Europa League.

With this in mind, clubs, as much as possible try to avoid the likes of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Barcelona in the round of 16 phase.

David Ospina’s addition to the injured list of Arsenal is a major blow to Frenchman, Arsene Wenger, who seems to be growing thin of man power with each game.

The current situation of Arsenal and the sudden emergence of 19-year old Hector Ballerin into Wenger’s first team mean that the manager’s decision on adopting the youngster on the pitch is as a result of little or no option.

A loss to Anderlecht would mean that Arsenal may struggle against Anderlecht, Galatasary and Borussia Dortmund while a win would give Wenger a sigh of relief, and a shot at playing a less powerful side in their round of 16 Champions League stage.

Borussia Dortmund are current Group D leaders with 6 points, Arsenal are second with 3 points, having lost a game to Dortmund and winning against Galatasary in a fashionable 5-1 win. Turkish giants Galatasary are third with just a point, as well as Anderlecht, having settled for a draw with the Turkish giants.