The first glamour tie of our Champions League season...
Apart from the Inter trip this is the hardest game of this initial stage... the three time defending champions of France... it's Paris Saint-Germain.
As opposed to the Atalanta game we have a lot of our players back healthy for this and have the luxury of a couple of big stars being rested for this. Ben White in particular wasn't ready for Leicester but apparently will be fit for this.
As good as Ethan's cameo was, PSG's midfield is definitely their strong suit so I think Arteta will probably default to experience so probably use Trossard up top again as he's been extremely clutch for us in Europe so far.
With White back means we can rotate out Timber or Calafiori and also Jorginho was an unused substitute so could see him come in for an average Partey. M
The Opposition
One of the four other clubs that our manager has played for, we have an unbeaten record against PSG having won once and drawn three of our previous competitive matches. The last time we played PSG was in 2016/17 - the last Champions League season before our seven year drought from the big show. Faced them twice in the group stage and the home tie was a thrilling 2-2 with a Giroud penalty and Verratti own goal being cancelled out by a Cavani tap in and Iwobi own goal.
However...
The most famous night in Europe was when we faced them under George Graham in the 1993-94 Cup Winners' Cup Semi Final...
In the first leg in Paris a Wrighty opener was cancelled out by future Spud David Ginola meaning it was all to play for in the second leg at a packed Highbury.
Inside the opening ten minutes a sharp cross from Lee Dixon was met by a bullet header from Kevin Campbell (RIP) and we went one - nil up. Wrighty couldn't get his goal having several efforts saved but with a few saves from Seaman we made it over the line to face Parma in the final and win our ONLY major European honour...
Today's PSG are a very different beast to the side we faced 30 years ago... they're a team full of young talent having hit the reset button post MBappe. That doesn't mean they're any less dangerous though... beyond star names like Hakimi, Marquinhos and Ousmane Dembele their midfield has two real superstars of the future in Warren Zaire-Emery and Joao Neves but also Vitinha AND a star of the Euros in reserve - Fabian Ruiz.
However, like us they've been hit with a bit of an injury crisis recently. Vitinha missed their win on Friday night over Stade Rennes as did Donnarumma who's missed their last three games. New signing Desire Doue is a doubt and Nuno Mendes has recently been struggling with illness. This is in addition to long term absences Lucas Hernandez, Kimpembe and Goncalo Ramos.
Could be an opportunity for us to exploit their left back as they're currently playing 20 year old Lucas Peraldo there in Nuno Mendes' absence. Set pieces could be a road to victory if the giant Donnarumma doesn't play as it'd be new signing Matvei Safonov in goal, also Luis Enrique doesn't employ a set piece coach for PSG so this could be a huge opportunity at corners for us to get one.
Danger Man
We've mentioned WZE and and Neves but the man who's really stepped up post MBappe so far has been Bradley Barcola...
The young winger has been absolutely flying so far this season bagging six in six in Ligue but also eight goals and three assists in his last eleven games overall. Just check this out from last night... looks a scary player.
Last edited:
