Arsenal go into the second leg of their Champions league qualifying tie against FC Twente on the back of what must be their worst performance for a good few seasons. The Gunners were woeful against Fulham on Saturday and the team from West London Fully deserved their 1-0 victory. There needs to be a reaction from the players tonight.

It is rare that an Arsenal player takes to the field and leaves it having had a worse game than Emmanuel Eboue, but on Saturday that dubious honour fell to Denilson. The young Brazilian was well off the pace at Craven Cottage and it will be a surprise if he makes the starting line up tonight, especially with Cesc Fabregas vying for a starting position.

Arsene Wenger will be hopeful that the return of the young Spaniard will kick start the Gunners’ stuttering season, but it is a very dangerous game to rely on one player so heavily. Arsenal have looked second best in midfield for long periods of all three games they have played this season and that is sure to be worrying for the manager and fans alike, especially considering their opposition to date has been West Brom, Twente and Fulham. If they had have been playing Chelsea on Saturday you can’t help thinking they would have been on the end of a four or five goal defeat.

All that said, it is doubtful that the inadequacies in the middle will be exposed tonight. For all that Arsenal were poor in the first leg, they still emerged comfortable 2-0 victors and it would also be no surprise to see some sort of backlash following Saturday’s defeat.

The return of Fabregas will be a massive boost and he should be able to provide the creativity that they have been lacking so far this season. Theo Walcott, Samir Nasri and Emmanuel Adebayor all look to have the beating of the Twente defence and they should be able to make the most of the vast Emirates playing surface. The home fans could be set for a goal feast.

The Gunners are 1.26 to win the match, which is about right but far too short to be backing, so we should look at the number of goals markets to find a bet. The 1.80 available about over 2.5 goals looks fair enough and so too does the 3.15 on there being four or more.

Back Over 2.5 goals WON @ 1.80
Back Over 3.5 goals WON @ 3.15