Walcott at the double as rampant Arsenal down Basel

LONDON: Arsenal showed why the Football Association can only dream of hiring Arsene Wenger to take charge of England as Theo Walcott’s double inspired a swaggering 2- 0 victory over Basel in the Champions League on Wednesday.

The FA’s decision to part ways with disgraced England manager Sam Al lardyce on Tuesday triggered reports that Gunners boss Wenger is the governing body’s top choice to become the national team’s next permanent coach.

But Wenger admitted several years ago he had ignored the FA’s overtures once before and, on the evidence of Arsenal’s burgeoning revival this season, the poisoned chalice of managing England is extremely unlikely to be a tempting prospect.

Coming five days after a 3- 0 defeat of Chelsea that Wenger described as almost perfect, another sublime display showed why the Arsenal fans who called for the Frenchman to quit during a turbulent last 18 months should be grateful he decided to stick around for a 20th year with the Gunners.

Walcott netted twice in the first half at the Emirates Stadium to leave Arsenal, now unbeaten in their last eight matches in all competitions, with four points from their first two Group A matches.

Yet those simple facts don’t do justice to the total mastery Arsenal displayed in a spell-binding first half.

“I’d like to congratulate the team on their performance. The first half was top, top quality, like we produced against Chelsea,” Wenger said.

“We had pace, technical quality and movement. My only regret is we didn’t take all our chances.” — AFP