The Football Faithful
·1 October 2024
The Football Faithful
·1 October 2024
Mikel Arteta welcomes former side Paris Saint-Germain to North London on Tuesday, as Arsenal look to win their first Champions League match of the season.
The Gunners left it late at the weekend to beat Leicester City, as 94th and 99th minute goals from Leandro Trossard and Kai Havertz salvaged a 4-2 victory over the Foxes.
Ben White is a doubt for the match after being left out of the squad completely against Leicester and this game comes too soon for Martin Odegaard, Mikel Merino and Takehiro Tomiyasu.
PSG winger Ousmane Dembele has been dropped for this match by manager Luis Enrique due to disciplinary reasons, after the pair reportedly had an argument after the weekend’s game against Rennes.
The Parisians will continue to be without the presence of first-choice goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma as the Italian recovers from a thigh issue.
Arsenal: WDDWW
Arsenal remain unbeaten in all competitions and the Gunners rose to third in the Premier League after being Leicester at the weekend.
A hard-fought draw at Manchester City last month ignited an attacking spark in the North London club as they have netted nine goals in the last two matches.
They started this season’s European journey with a 0-0 stalemate away at Atalanta and Arteta will be instructing his players to assert themselves at home if they want to have a chance of qualifying.
Their game against PSG is their third of four consecutive home games and they will be hoping to make that home advantage count at the Emirates.
PSG: WWWDW
The Ligue 1 champions have been typically dominant so far this term under Luis Enrique, as they find themselves at the top of France’s top division.
They are level on points with AS Monaco with both sides having 16 points after six games, but the former’s goal difference is far superior.
PSG commenced their European campaign with a slender win over Girona, with the unfortunate Paulo Gazzaniga turning the ball into his own net in the dying embers to gift the French side the three points.
They go into this fixture full of confidence after sweeping aside Rennes 3-1 at the Parc des Princes on the weekend, with Bradley Barcola recording a brace.
Last Meeting: Arsenal 2-2 Paris Saint-Germain, Champions League, 23rd November 2016
Nothing could separate the two sides when they last met, as an own goal from either team resulted in a draw at the Emirates.
The scores were level going into the interval after an Oliver Giroud penalty cancelled out Edinson Cavani’s bundled effort.
The Gunners completed the turnaround on the hour mark, as the ball cannoned into the PSG net off the unfortunate Marco Verratti.
But the hosts would have some misfortune themselves, as a Lucas Moura header was diverted past David Ospina through the inadvertent help of Alex Iwobi.
Unai Emery’s PSG outfit had a couple of glorious opportunities to snatch all three points, but Cavani fluffed his lines on both occasions.
Arsenal topped the group but crashed out of the competition in embarrassing fashion. The Gunners succumbed to an infamous 10-2 aggregate defeat to Bayern Munich at the Round of 16 stage.
PSG also exited the competition at the same stage and in similarly humiliating fashion. Barcelona completed the most unlikeliest of comebacks to win 6-5 on aggregate after being 4-0 down from the first leg.
Arsenal: Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori; Rice, Partey, Saka, Trossard, Martinelli; Havertz.
PSG: Safonov; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Skriniar, Mendes; Ruiz, Neves, Zaire-Emery; Lee, Muani, Barcola.
Who is the referee?
Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic is the match official. He will be assisted by Tomaz Klancnik and Andraz Kovacic. The VAR is Nejc Kajtazovic and he will be assisted by Tomasz Kwiatkowski.
Arsenal vs PSG will be available to watch on Amazon Prime UK.
What time is kick off?
Kick off at the Emirates Stadium will be at 20:00 BST on Tuesday 1st October 2024.
Odds
Arsenal – 7/10
Draw – 14/5
PSG – 4/1