Arsenal face a season-defining game away at Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday night.
The Gunners have missed out on the Premier League title to Liverpool, and thus, Mikel Arteta’s team will be judged on the outcome of their Champions League campaign.
PSG won the first leg 1-0 at the Emirates, meaning the North Londoners will have to win the game in Paris to progress into the final of Europe’s elite competition.
Arsene Wenger believes this should make Arteta’s mental game plan easy to communicate, although what the Spaniard produces tactically is a lot more complex.
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Arsenal should cede possession to PSG in Champions League clash
Arsenal grew into the game against PSG in N5 after a difficult opening 30 minutes.
Arteta worked out how his side can evade the Parisians’ high press by going long through David Raya towards Mikel Merino.
The Gunners players also identified their physical superiority over PSG and started leaning into this by driving past Luis Enrique’s frail midfield.
While these tactical ploys will be useful at the Parc des Princes, Arteta will need to implement more specific instructions in the second leg.
When a team is chasing a game, they typically dominate possession and push the side holding the lead backwards.
However, Arteta should instead look to cede possession and try and mirror what Aston Villa were able to do at Villa Park against the Ligue 1 side.
PSG had 64% of the ball in the West Midlands, despite looking to protect the lead, and they really struggled with this.
Enrique’s outfit aren’t designed for conservative, defensive possession, but they instead want to constantly run at you and win the ball back high up the pitch when they lose it.
When they try and suffocate the opposition by keeping the ball, they tend to lose it in dangerous areas, which Arsenal should be able to exploit even more than Villa were able to.
Allow PSG to give the Gunners turnovers, then use Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka to take advantage of the space that Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes will vacate.
It’s a simple game plan, but one that could be extremely effective.
Declan Rice will be essential to this game plan in PSG v Arsenal
Arguably the best out-of-possession midfielder in world football, Declan Rice should be liberated by playing as an eight again after being deployed as the six in the first leg.
If Arsenal are going to let PSG possess the ball in their own half, the Englishman will be essential to the Gunners’ ability to win it back and force turnovers.
Rice has been playing in a new role, which has also seen him tasked with making late runs into the box and being the extra man in the attack.
As shown by his goal against Bournemouth on Saturday, he’s growing with this added responsibility, and it would be no surprise to see him pop up with a similar contribution against PSG.
Arsenal will need their best players to step up in the French capital, and Rice has shown he can do this in big moments time and time again.
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