We got our first Champions League win of the season under our belts last night, beating PSG 2-0 thanks to first half goals from Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka.
The team saw both Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori start at full-back, with Ben White absent again. The rest was pretty much as expected. The opening stages were quite interesting as the two sides felt each other out. PSG looked to press high, so David Raya went long, playing a superb pass to Gabriel Martinelli that he just couldn’t quite get a touch on.
Calafiori had to defend against Achraf Hakimi, Havertz found some space in behind and played a great ball across but nobody was there, but that move – which included some nice work from Leandro Trossard – was a warning for the visitors. The Belgian created the opener, getting away from his marker on halfway and driving into the PSG half. He cut back inside, saw the run of Havertz and delivered a brilliant ball into the box, which the German headed over the onrushing Gianluigi Donnarumma. The quality of the delivery tempted the Italian goalkeeper to go for it, but the timing of Havertz’s run and header was perfect (it was brave too). That’s six home games in a row in which the German has scored now, and with 5 goals he’s our leading scorer this season so far.
PSG had moments. The battle between Saka and Nuno Mendes at left-back was a fascinating one. The Portuguese defender cracked a shot just wide after he forayed forward, but it was his foul on the Arsenal captain that led to the second. The free kick from out wide was one you’d expect Saka to deliver high into the box, but he went low towards the front post. Arsenal players ran in that direction, PSG defenders didn’t get any contact on it, and I don’t think Donnarumma covered himself in glory – particularly when you see the angle from behind.
It’s the first time we’ve scored from a direct free kick since Martin Odegaard’s strike against Burnley in 2021. Was it a touch fortunate? Sure. I’m not convinced that’s what he meant to do, but they all count, and it gave us some breathing room in the game. From another free kick, did we see another set-piece ruse as a Gabriel Martinelli ‘injury’ seemed to unsettle PSG? Saka almost found the run of Trossard, but slightly overhit it, and he delivered a cross to the near post for Trossard again but the contact on the finish wasn’t right.
In the second half, I think we saw the progression and maturity of this team in full effect. I don’t think the plan was to let PSG have that much of the ball, but when they did we teased them to try and break us down. For the most part, they couldn’t. A speculative shot from distance which swerved and gave Raya a second’s panic before he readjusted and saved, and one effort from a corner which hit the bar and bounced away. That was about it, although their two second half changes gave us more to think about.
Bear in mind that we’d taken off the impressive Timber at half-time because we didn’t want to take a risk with a muscular issue he complained about. That meant Jakub Kiwior came on at left-back, so we shifted Calafiori over to the right. I think there were a couple of moments where the positioning on his ‘wrong’ side caused him an issue, but mostly he looked as comfortable there as he did on the other flank.
I don’t quite know how to describe the way he plays. He’s a very front-footed defender, who loves to win the ball and drive forward, but there’s a sort raw innocence with it too. I’m sure that Arteta and his coaching staff will look to develop that, rather than do away with it, because it gives the team so much – particularly when we are in that low block just shutting out the opposition, and he helps us spring forward.
We could have scored more. A brilliant move saw Martinelli volley straight at the keeper, Havertz had a header, while Gabriel Jesus came on and made things 10 times more complicated than they needed to be. PSG wanted a penalty for handball, but for me those kinds of incidents should never result in a spot-kick and thankfully the officials agreed.
There was time for a surprise debut for Mikel Merino too, the summer signing replaced Thomas Partey in the second half and slotted in alongside Declan Rice as they provided a dual-screen for the back four, and in the end the French champions had no way to break us down.
Afterwards, Mikel Arteta said:
I think it raises the confidence and belief that we can compete with any team at that level in European competitions, with the style of games that are very different to the Premier League. I think we showed a lot of maturity in the way we played and we put our stamp on the way that we want to behave in Europe against top teams and I really like that.
While PSG boss Luis Enrique said:
I take the blame. I am responsible for this. Arsenal were much better in terms of intensity and pressure. They won every duel.
If I had to choose one word to describe our performance, it would be ‘professional’. This is exactly what you need to be able to do in games like this at this level. I’ve said it before, this is a team that has matured before our eyes, but the question as to whether we can demonstrate that against big opposition is still be fully answered. Last night gave us a good clue, there’s more to come obviously, but it’s a performance and a result we should be very pleased with.
Stand by for an Arsecast a bit later on this morning as we go over things in a bit more detail, for now, I’ll leave it there.
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