Arsenal’s biggest game for 16 years takes place next Tuesday as Mikel Arteta’s team entertain Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.
The Gunners last played in the semi-final of Europe’s elite competition in 2009 against Manchester United, in a tie that the Red Devils comfortably won.
Arteta will be hoping for a very different outcome this time around, as his side prepares to take on an electric PSG side, led by a number of talented attacking players.
Ousmane Dembele’s battle against compatriot William Saliba will no doubt be one of the key match-ups on the pitch, although Arsenal will be confident that their Frenchman will come out on top.
William Saliba won Man of the Match against PSG for Marseille
Nuno Mendes received criticism for his performance for PSG against Nantes earlier this week, with the Portuguese’s potential drop-off in form extremely encouraging news for Bukayo Saka ahead of their individual battle.
This isn’t the only battle that Arsenal will be confident in, with Saliba historically performing excellently against the French giants.
Saliba scored an eight out of ten for his display against PSG for the Gunners back in October, delivering a commanding performance on the night.
Back in October 2021, the centre-back produced a similarly impressive showing against the Parisians, dominating Kylian Mbappe for Marseille in an early-season title showdown.
The game at the Stade Velodrome ended 0-0, with Saliba leading a defence that kept a PSG front-line that included Mbappe, Lionel Messi, Neymar and Angel Di Maria to just ten shots throughout the 90 minutes.
Saliba, who was on loan from Arsenal at the time, was awarded player of the match by FotMob, who granted him a 7.8 rating for his exploits.
Physically imposing himself on Mbappe, the France international famously beat the striker in a foot race in the match, shepherding him out of play in a similar fashion to what we saw at the Bernabeu last week.
William Saliba can deal with Ousmane Dembele in Arsenal v PSG
Dembele will undoubtedly be PSG’s main attacking threat, with the French winger thriving in recent months in a central role under Luis Enrique.
Arguably one of the best players in the world at the moment, the mercurial wide man has scored 32 goals and provided nine assists in all competitions this season.
However, Saliba dominated Mbappe against Real Madrid, and thus, will be ready for the challenge of Dembele.
The Arsenal defender doesn’t tend to struggle against quick and agile forwards, using his physicality, pace and ability to read the game to stifle them.
Intelligently sniffing out danger when these profiles of striker try to attack him, Saliba will be confident that Dembele won’t pose a threat to him.
More physically imposing and combative strikers who dominate aerially can occasionally cause the centre-half some issues, but on the whole, he won’t be scared of any attacking proposition that comes his way.
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