Arsenal are preparing to play Paris Saint-Germain in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final tie.
The Gunners travel to the French Capital on Wednesday night, looking to overturn the one-goal deficit the Ligue 1 side established in the first leg at the Emirates last week.
Bournemouth beat Arsenal on the weekend, piling the pressure on Mikel Arteta’s team ahead of their trip to Paris, as their grip on second place in the Premier League begins to loosen.
While PSG dominated Arteta’s side in the opening half an hour in N5, there were some green shoots for the Spaniard as the game went on, with Arsenal arguably the better team for the middle portion of the match.
Gary Neville says PSG fans get ‘quite nervous’ ahead of Arsenal clash
Both sides are looking to claim their first Champions League triumph, and this will no doubt be on the minds of the players.
PSG have been in similarly encouraging positions in the latter stages of Europe’s elite competition in recent years, and have found a way to fail to progress.
Speaking on the Gary Neville podcast, the outspoken pundit suggested that this pressure on PSG often gets to the stadium, and he thinks this soft factor will play into Arsenal’s hands at the Parc des Princes.
“I think the worry for Arsenal yesterday is that they played their best side and still lost,” Neville said.
“That’ll be a worry. They’ve got a big game in midweek. I genuinely think Arsenal in midweek can do it. I think they can go to Paris Saint-Germain and win.
“I went there with David Beckham once to watch Real Madrid play and I watched Manchester United there. I’ve seen that you can go there, and they get quite nervous in that stadium.
“There’s such an expectation about PSG and them winning the Champions League. They build themselves up and it’ll be a hostile atmosphere for the first 10 to 15 minutes.
“However, if Arsenal can get a goal which I think they definitely can, whether it’s from a set-piece or a counter-attack or a bit of brilliance. I just think you can see and feel it change in that stadium and I’ve been there when it’s happened. So I think Arsenal are in with a shout in midweek.”
Ousmane Dembele may be unavailable for PSG, which would be a detrimental blow to a side that have become reliant on the Frenchman’s goals.
However, Martin Odegaard could be sidelined for the second leg, while the likes of Gabriel Magalhaes, Gabriel Jesus, Kai Havertz, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Jorginho and Riccardo Calafiori are all set to be absent.
Arsenal need to be aggressive in Paris
As Neville suggested, if Arsenal can score an early goal, they’ll be in the ascendancy in the tie, with the PSG home crowd likely to grow nervous very quickly.
Arteta’s team need to come out on the front foot and press PSG high up the pitch, rather than resort to sitting in a low block and looking to hit Luis Enrique’s side on the counter-attack.
The Parisians aren’t a team that protects leads very well, as shown by their near capitulation against Aston Villa in the last round.
| Arsenal vs PSG First Leg statistics | ||
| Stat | Arsenal | PSG |
| Possession | 48% | 52% |
| Shots | 10 | 11 |
| Shots on target | 5 | 4 |
| Expected Goals | 1.63 | 1.16 |
| Big Chances | 3 | 2 |
| Corners | 3 | 1 |
They struggle to play a conservative possession game, while they’re also ineffective at sitting deep and looking to defend by bunkering inside their own box.
If Arsenal play their normal pressing game from the outset, they have a real chance of reversing the tie.
Receive a digest of our best Arsenal content each week direct to your mailbox
