phase of the Champions League as Group A winners.
Real Madrid or Bayern Munich could yet be the next opponents but, for the first time in five years, Arsenal have at least given themselves the best possible hope of a favourable draw in Nyon next Monday.
The Perez hat-trick was only the seventh by an Arsenal player in Champions League history – putting him in the company of Thierry Henry and Mesut Ozil - but Gibbs also had a hand in his three goals and produced a similarly eye-catching performance.
“Lucas scored over 20 goals in Spain last year, and showed why; he has a good eye and makes good movements in the box,” said Wenger.
Even while starting some more peripheral squad members, Arsenal made their first statement of intent simply via Wenger’s team-sheet. His two star players – Alexis Sanchez and Ozil – were both included and the attacking ambition in Arsenal’s football was immediately clear. Gibbs was playing almost as a left winger in his constant willingness to overlap and one of his darting runs was soon spotted by Sanchez. Simply to see the opportunity was one thing but Sanchez then also delivered a sublime pass. He simply lifted the ball over the Basel defence – sand-wedge style – to find Gibbs, who sprinted to the by-line and then squared his cross to present Perez with the easiest of tap-ins.
Arsenal kept pushing forward and, with Granit Xhaka playing in a more defensive midfield position and Aaron Ramsey driving into dangerous areas in front of the Basel defence, Ozil suddenly found himself in space. He also split Basel’s defence down the left, with Gibbs then forcing a diving one-handed save by Tomas Vaclik that rolled into the path of Perez to score a similarly simple second.
News soon emerged that Ludogorets had taken an unexpected lead in Paris. Arsenal only had to better the outcome at the Parc des Princes and that realisation, allied perhaps to the exertions of their opening burst, prompted a period of caution and Basel almost pulled a goal back shortly before half-time. Renato Steffen cut inside down the right and his shot from the edge of Arsenal’s penalty area forced a diving save by David Ospina.
Arsenal re-emerged looking energised and their lead was soon extended. Gibbs was again involved, feeding Sanchez who passed for Perez to shoot back across Vaclik for Arsenal’s third goal inside 47 minutes. Any glimmer of hope for Basel had disappeared and further holes continued to open in their defence. Sanchez then again dissected their backline to release Ozil who, even with a chance to shoot himself, demonstrated that trademark sixth sense for the movement of players around him. And so, rather than put his left leg straight through the ball, he simply wrapped his foot around it and deftly squared for Alex Iwobi to follow in and score what was his first goal of the season.
Arsenal’s delight was briefly mitigated by news that PSG had equalised and needed only one more goal to render their efforts redundant. There was also concern when Sanchez went down under a heavy tackle from Eder Balanta. Wenger responded by immediately summoning Mohamed Elneny and Olivier Giroud to the side of the pitch, although any worry for Sanchez’s health was soon mitigated by him striking the subsequent free-kick against the underside of the crossbar.
Wenger, though, had no reason to take any chances and did then replace both Sanchez and Ramsey, with Arsenal further buoyed by another unexpected twist in Paris as Ludogorets again scored. Some respectability was then achieved for Basel with Seydou Doumbia’s consolation goal but Arsenal’s progress as group winners was already secure.
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