Arsenal team to face PSG
Arsenal News Arsenal opinion

Confirmed Arsenal team to face PSG in Champions League semi-final first leg

Arsenal v PSG

Arsenal prepare to host Paris Saint-Germain in a pivotal UEFA Champions League semi-final first leg at Emirates Stadium this evening, and this is the team Mikel Arteta has selected.

Arsenal team v PSG
Arsenal team v PSG

The Gunners arrive in formidable form, having swept aside Real Madrid 5-1 on aggregate in the quarter-finals, including a commanding 3-0 home victory that underlined their strength at the Emirates. That result extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to 12 matches, reflecting a consistency and resilience that has defined their campaign.

Confidence is high for the home side, not only due to their recent exploits but also their impressive record against their French opponents. Arsenal have not lost in their last five competitive meetings with Paris Saint-Germain, including a 2-0 win in the league stage at the Emirates earlier this season. The Gunners have outscored their visitors five to three over the last three encounters, and Paris Saint-Germain have not tasted victory in this fixture since 2016.

Arsenal’s home form in Europe has been particularly notable, with five wins and a draw from six Champions League matches at the Emirates this season, and a six-match unbeaten streak on home soil in all competitions. They have also been prolific in attack, scoring in each of their last eight Champions League fixtures, while maintaining a defensive discipline that has seen them score first in all of their last six matches and concede just once before half-time in that run.

The hosts’ ability to seize the initiative early and manage matches from the front has been a hallmark of their European run. With the home crowd behind them and a well-drilled tactical approach, Arsenal will look to establish a first-leg advantage before the return trip to Paris.

Paris Saint-Germain arrive having edged past Aston Villa 5-4 on aggregate in the quarter-finals, and while they have shown attacking threat, recent defensive frailties have seen them concede nine goals in their last six matches in all competitions.

Posted by

Tags Arsenal v PSG

191 Comments

  3. Let’s hope our starting 11 can do the job because the bench is threadbare with only 1 attacking player and a couple of defenders.

  4. Hopefully, Partey’s suspension and Trossard’s inclusion will be a blessing in disguise and he scores some important goals in this match.

  6. I am sacred because PSG has been very unpredictable side in terms of performances this season
    Side who lost to Nice weekend but same side trashed City and Knocked out Liverpool
    So don’t know which PSG side will turn up
    But if we managed to grab 2 goals lead for 2nd half then I think we will be through to the final

    1. Think that midfield forces Rice to be DM
      I think that is a mistake
      Have Zichvenko there or play Skelley there and bring in White so you have better defenders at lb and rb

  7. Would have preferred Tierney at lb with MLS in midfield, or zinchenko in midfield, instead of moving merino back, but I did expect this lineup – not saying it’s wrong

  9. Zinchenko cannot protect the back like merino would do cuz of his defensive prowess but if we subdue them in the midfield area then we can tweak it in the second half

  10. This was the lineup against Ipswich. I know PSG is a different animal but if Arsenal repeat their first-half performance against Ipswich, even PSG will be hard put to handle them

  11. Arteta can be too predictable. The midfield belongs to PSG. Rice must play as 8(box 2 box). 3/4 of our starters not in the team. We are getting weaker.

  13. Lineup picks itself really. Need everybody to step up. Minimise the errors and not loose the ball easily. Make psg uncomfortable and be clinical. COYG shooot!!!

  14. Really nervous, like I was before the RM game.

    Looking forward to see the banner that the club got that’s going to be hung from the roof of the Northbank.

  19. Good evening all at JA.
    How can I buy a ticket for.the final.
    Just asking for best advice.
    I am from South Africa.
    Go Gunners

  20. Predictable selection but i cannot see us keeping a clean sheet against a very talented front three.For what its worth i would have played White and Tierney at full back with Timber as DM which would have released Rice for his box to box role where he was immense against RM.I would settle for a one goal win .

      1. Not sure that’s on them. Someone got sucked in and left him free before kvara cut inside – didn’t see who but guessing rice

    1. I think someone should do the same to Odegard and Trossard who only arrived back after the ball was in the net.

    2. @FootballsTrivial
      Why does it appear like Partey is important for this match when there’s always endless negativity around his performance?

      1. Partey is irreplaceable. He controls the midfield and the tempo of the game for significant periods. Who are these people who think Partey is not amazing??

    1. The senseless Partey decided to be mad and succeeded in destabilizing the team. That mad man should be gone by the end of the season. Now Ateta is forced to shuffle the entire team and lose the midfield and at the same time lose the forward play that Merino provides when he is playing upfront.

  34. It seems like our lads still think they’re playing Palace. No aggression, no oomph about their play.

  35. We’re not winning this. No way. Too passive. No control. Nervous. What happened to the confidence after beating RM?

  40. I don’t care if we go out with a fight, but they making us look like amateurs and PSG look like prime Barca.

    Will be interesting to see what tweaks Arteta makes at half time.

    1. There are people who think Partey isn’t almost irreplaceable? He is as good as Rodri if not better in terms of ability

      1. Thank you and some want him out. Without partey saka wont get enough balls. Merino, Rice and Trossard will be half player today.

      2. He makes more unforced errors than rodri, I think (rodri hardly ever seems to make any), but he has the same understanding of the position – not many players like that around

    2. Very sad Partey is important when he’s needed like today.

      Some of us only accidentally credit him and we’d have long dumped him if we had an option. And then there those right back experiments with him even where this wasn’t necessary at all …….

      And PSG are celebrating in his absence in a very heartbreaking way …….

  43. Trossard needs to be careful giving it large to the ref there. He’ll get a second yellow and then we’ll be really screwed. Then again we might play better with ten men.

    1. You’re assuming PSG only get the one goal against us. Everytime they pile forward they look like scoring another. Our players look like they’re crapping themselves with the pressure.

  46. It’s looking less one sided now after a full on start by PSG. Not a walk in the park but …. Ooh nearly spoke too soon. That was heart stopping and so nearly a complete disaster. Crikey

  50. They look nervous and caught in the occasion and it is allowing psg to attack us at will. Need to tighten up that midfield, remember how psg ran over Liverpool in the 1st leg only falling to bad finishing and a world class Allison performance.

  55. Takes a second to lift the crowd not Arteta tactically has to change something else this will pass us by

    1. White in for Timber
      Tiernay for Trosaard and move MLS to midfield and Merino CF
      Nwaneri for Odegaard

      1. I think Tierney for Trossard move is correct
        I won’t take Timber out just yet
        White’s season is very bad because of injuries
        He has not even played much minutes on the board

      2. Ahhh

        Are you watching the game ?

        MLS, Timber, Bukayo are the players behind our resurrection in this 1st half

    2. He’s losing control a bit, but our players need to calm down and stop reacting. He’s already booked saka (and someone else?) for dissent – we need to be smarter.

      1. Yes
        It was for kicking the ball away
        But some tactical decisions and risks has to be taken by Arteta now
        Because PSG side looks beatable

  63. I think Arteta should play MLS in midfield in 2nd half
    He was the best player on the pitch for us

    2. I wouldn’t want to take off trossard or martinelli, though, because both can score – could only think to take off odegaard for that kind of sub, but that messes with the midfield structure again.

      1. I think Tierney is the only option who can play as LB
        Because at least Tierney is much better than Zinchenko defensively
        May be putting Tierney as LB and MLS in midfield
        And Merino up front

        1. Yeah, I’m just wondering who I’d take off – it’s a big call. Would have preferred to have trossard starting on the bench so we could bring him on – now we need a goal and he’s a good finisher and has a nose for chances

  64. What the hell was that foul given for? I hate Partey with a passion right now. This game would’ve been very different with better midfield control.

  65. Martenelli would have buried that a few seasons ago, got to do better.

    Let’s hope we keep that pressure up, cracks are forming.

  67. We cannot go with a draw to France, nevermind a loss. Is this the usual end of season collapse? Feels like it.

  68. I am afraid the lack of quality and lack of ideas is so obvious. I don’t get our tactics and our quality is poor. At the moment, there is no way we are winning this tie. Louis Enrique has them playing better than their sum of their parts and we are not.

  69. some tactical decisions and risks has to be taken by Arteta now
    Because PSG side looks beatable

  71. We lost Partey’s world-class ball control and passes in tight spaces. If we lose UCL, I hope Zubimendi will come to let Rice play box-to-box

    1. I think if you see the reply you will realise that initially Rice absolutely marking the Dembele
      Even before rushing to help Timber he had a glance over Dembele’s position
      2 mistakes happened in the goal
      1st Saka, Odegaard didn’t track back
      If Saka would tracked back to help Timber then Rice would have marked Dembele
      Also if Odegaard would have tracked back then he would helped Rice as well
      Or May be Rice should have kept trust on Timber to deal Kvara in 1 vs 1 situation
      Or May be Rice wouldn’t have anticipated that Dembele will take shot from that angle…

  72. I’ve been screaming all through, my neighbors would be worried

    Partey’s absence showed
    immediately
    We might be better playing one man down without Kiwior, he’s a bag of nerves, is scared and no decision he’s made was good

    Martinelli got me furiously mad for missing that last chance – no keeper should have a say in that, put all your bend into it – fall if you need to – that should be a goal all day

    We better draw at least
    We need Partey – they will rattle us in their home

    Their attack and movement made our defense look like kids

  73. To think some people on here were calling for partey to be sold.. I hope yall are watching this match and seeing how important he is in our midfield. 2-3 passes and they’ve bypassed our midfield, rice cannot control the midfield, rice does not even look comfortable receiving the ball from Raya. Hope for a better 2nd half though

      1. Partey is not playing cos he’s suspended

        Everything is said is 100% bang-on correct

        We’re scattered in the midfield & our “good” defense was open like baskets everywhere

    2. There’s more of thinking to support the selling Partey and he may not be as valued with the outspoken side of us.

      I haven’t seen him doing worse than the rest of our team on any of the unreasonable complaints we always have for him.

      I think we are always better with him than otherwise and our first 45 mins proves this so far.

  74. We can beat PSG for sure. We just need to pass more accurately and quicker. Press them quicker and close them down. For most of the first half we looked second best in most aspects of the game. Add to that the bad ref and linesman. We need to make our own luck!

  75. Theres a goal in this game for us after a bad start. But we need some of these players to step up. Saka and Martinelli are carrying the effort, and ive seen more creativity from MLS than Odegaard. C’mon it’s not over

    1. I think if you see the reply you will realise that initially Rice absolutely marking the Dembele
      Even before rushing to help Timber he had a glance over Dembele’s position
      2 mistakes happened in the goal
      1st Saka, Odegaard didn’t track back
      If Saka would tracked back to help Timber then Rice would have marked Dembele
      Also if Odegaard would have tracked back then he would helped Rice as well
      Or May be Rice should have kept trust on Timber to deal Kvara in 1 vs 1 situation
      Or May be Rice wouldn’t have anticipated that Dembele will take shot from that angle…

  78. So admin, great moderating! None of my comments get through. No wonder there are always the same old effing dudes commenting here. What a pathetic setup this is! Small people…

    1. Nice manners. Any new posters must wait for their first posts to be moderated, once your first posts have been moderated then your future posts are posted automatically. Hopefully you will not be so rude in your future posts on here.

  80. I think if you see the reply you will realise that initially Rice absolutely marking the Dembele
    Even before rushing to help Timber he had a glance over Dembele’s position
    2 mistakes happened in the goal
    1st Saka, Odegaard didn’t track back
    If Saka would tracked back to help Timber then Rice would have marked Dembele
    Also if Odegaard would have tracked back then he would helped Rice as well
    Or May be Rice should have kept trust on Timber to deal Kvara in 1 vs 1 situation
    Or May be Rice wouldn’t have anticipated that Dembele will take shot from that angle…

    1. The chance of Dembele beating Raya from the angle were low so maybe that’s why he preferred to help timber. Bad call but logical.

  81. We need to remove trossard for tierney and get skelly in that midfield. His ability to turn and run with the ball will break psg man to man marking, Rice is getting overrun and needs help. Also getting Merino up top will help us conteract psg pressing as we will have an aerial outlet. Trossard is also petulant and very susceptible to pissing off the ref for a 2nd yellow.

      1. The way proceedings are going
        We it doesn’t look like we are gonna get much chances now
        PSG is managing the game really well with keeping possession

  93. So you know those who said there were no attacking options to make us better in January
    kvaratskhelia was lol
    Best player on the pitch so far
    The irony

      1. We are not creating anything nor do I think we have anymore left unfortunately. We are not on their level if we are honest and we knew that with our injuries. They are battering us now hitting the bar there also

Comments are closed

Top Blog Sponsors