Arsenal’s biggest game of the season is coming up against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.
The Gunners are all set to lose the Premier League title again. Liverpool will be crowned the champions if they pick up a point against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
Arsenal can’t do anything about that, but what they can do is put their full focus on finding a way to beat PSG over two legs in the semi-finals.
But, unfortunately for them, a rival Premier League manager may have just exposed one major flaw that Arsenal have, and PSG could exploit it.
Oliver Glasner exposes the Arsenal weakness that Crystal Palace took advantage of
Arsenal were held to a 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace in the Premier League.
The Gunners went ahead twice in the game – first through a great header from Jakub Kiwior and later through Leandro Trossard.
But, Palace equalised twice, and their second goal from Jean-Philippe Mateta highlighted a major flaw that can be taken advantage of.
When one of Arsenal’s centre-backs has the ball, David Raya steps out to make himself available, almost like he is another central defender.
That has worked brilliantly over the last year or so, but it is also extremely risky if Arsenal lose the ball – like William Saliba did against the Eagles at the Emirates.
Palace boss Oliver Glasner publicly claimed after the game that his side had planned for this beforehand and could’ve even scored three times from similar situations.
He said, as relayed on HaytersTV: “We showed the players when we were preparing (for) the opponent, we showed them that Raya is high.
“It was the third time we had this situation.
“First one, Justin Devenny didn’t recognise it, he forgot it. (Then), Adam Wharton had the kick in the first half, but he kicked Thomas Partey. This would’ve been quite dangerous.
“Then, yeah, we got the third opportunity, and JP (Mateta) had this amazing finish.”
PSG could take advantage of Arsenal
Raya moving to a left-centre-back position to make himself available for a pass wasn’t an error on his part, it was intentional and Mikel Arteta makes him do it in every game.
By doing so, he enables Arsenal to create an overload on that side of the pitch, which then helps the Gunners to play through their opponents.
But, after Crystal Palace took advantage and scored, it has to be viewed as a flaw in some situations, especially against teams that press high.
PSG have rapid players like Ousmane Dembele, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Desire Doue in attack, and all of them can close Arsenal down very quickly.
If one of Arteta’s defenders makes a mistake there and Raya is out of his line, PSG will do exactly what Palace did – chip the ball over the goalkeeper’s head and score.
Arsenal cannot afford that in the semi-final of the Champions League.
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