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By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) – If you need the task that was once vacant in England, the aspect of Arsene Wenger gave the Frenchman the best soundtrack in the 2-0 loss to FC Basel to move to the most sensible group A in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Sam Allardyce’s self-inflicted disappearance after just 67 days at the helm of the national team has inevitably given voice to those who say the FA turns to Wenger, an almost de facto Englishman after 20 years at the helm of Arsenal.
Arsenal’s dynamic demonstration against a club that has been Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea at the festival in recent years will reinforce their appeals.
Theo Walcott, through Allardyce’s predecessor Roy Hodgson, in the disregarded Euro 2016 campaign, scored twice before half-time when the hosts separated from Basel.
Walcott combined with Alexis Sanchez for either goal: the first one a header from the Chilean center after six minutes and the moment an exact shot after an elegant double with the South American wizard left the Basel defender standing.
Without Basel goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik, a frantic Arsenal could have been in position six before half-time.
A pre-match vote on the BBC’s online page left 66% of the electorate agreed that Wenger pulled England out of the mess created by Allardyce’s downfall after being secretly filmed commenting away in an attack on the Daily Telegraph.
Wenger said he had been surprised along the chain of occasions, but refused to give clues as to what the long term holds once his current contract with Arsenal expires next year.
“I’m 100 percent targeted at Arsenal until the end of the season and my priority will be at this club,” Wenger said. “Nothing will replace that.”
Wenger also asked if Walcott in form deserved to be part of England’s starting line-up for his next World Cup qualifying match against Malta this month.
“When you see the way he played tonight, it’s hard to forget, but I leave it to Gareth (Southgate),” Wenger smiled, referring to England’s substitute manager.
He’s more lucid on his side.
“The only remorse is that we don’t write down enough tonight contemplating what we’ve created. Overall, wonderful football,” Wenger said. “The first part of the first class”.
They have now made eight unbeated matches since losing to Liverpool on the first day of the season and the opposite to Basel continued where they had left him in a 3-0 loss to Chelsea this weekend thanks to the attack in the first half.
Walcott and Sanchez were irresistible, Arsenal’s risk came from all angles with Mesut Ozil tormenting and the side ones Nacho Monreal and Héctor Bellerin lurking.
Swiss Granit Xhaka, a former Basel player, eclipsed his brother Taulant, who, like his teammates, can stop the tide of Arsenal attacks.
Vaclik rejected Sanchez with his arm outstretched after playing through Ozil, while Bellerin and Alex Iwobi also had to increase the lead.
Basel threatened several times after a break with Birkir Bjarnason, one of the Icelandic heroes of Euro 2016, ending a shot that Arsenal goalkeeper David Ospina scratched over the bar.
(Report through Martyn Herman, edited through Pritha Sarkar and Tothrough Davis)