“We would have won the game but he was all over the field… it’s unfortunate Arteta doesn’t know how to use such fantastic player”: PSG coach says his team has never face a player like £68m Arsenal player in his entire career, praises the superstar
Arsenal earned their first win of the Champions League season after beating Paris Saint-Germain 2-0 at Emirates Stadium, thanks to goals from Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka.
Mikel Arteta named an unchanged side from Sunday’s dramatic late win against Leicester with Riccardo Calafiori and Jurrien Timber both passing late fitness tests to feature at full back.
There was further good news with Mikel Merino also making the bench for the first time since his summer move from Real Sociedad after recovering from a fractured shoulder.
It was a strong start from Arsenal who were pressing with intent and their first chance of the game fell to Saka who curled just over after some lovely play between Gabriel Martinelli and Calafiori down the left hand side.
PSG did settle though and were getting Vitinha on the ball who managed to slow things down, although the Gunners worked another nice opportunity when Saka played Havertz through who ran beyond him on the overlap although nobody could meet his low cross in the box.
Arsenal did eventually break the deadlock after 20 minutes and it was created by Leandro Trossard who did well to evade Desire Doue before delivering a beautiful cross for Havertz, who rose bravely ahead of Gianluigi Donnarumma to head into the corner. 1-0.
The two are continuing to develop a nice relationship and their positional fluidity between midfield and attack makes their movement so difficult to track.
It took half an hour for Paris to fashion their first real opportunity when Nuno Mendes brushed the post with a fiercely struck effort, before Hakimi galloped beyond Calafiori on the counter attack and called David Raya into action from a narrow angle.
Arteta’s men doubled their lead shortly after when Saka delivered a teasing cross towards six red shirts darting towards the near post, leaving Donnarumma confused and unsighted as the ball trickled past him into the net. 2-0.
It was another fun set piece routine from Arsenal who looked dangerous from those situations throughout the first half and despite the poor defending from Paris, should be praised for the creativity and variety they seem to offer almost game-by-game.
Trossard was close to making it 3-0 (and probably should have) before half time after good work from Saka by the touchline, but couldn’t connect properly with the captain’s low cross from six yards out.
You could see the potential and technical quality of Paris during that first half, but concerns about the physical mismatch ahead of kick-off rang true – Arsenal were dominant and suffocated their opponents in defensive areas with their inch perfect press.
Arteta did make a half time change with Jakub Kiwior replacing Jurrien Timber – which saw Calafiori move over to right back – in what was hopefully a precautionary withdrawal for the defender.
With Paris suffering under the press again, Arsenal almost worked what would have been one of the goals of the season after gorgeous one touch football between Saka, Trossard and Havertz set up Martinelli, although his left-footed volley was straight down the throat of Donnarumma.
With an hour on the clock, Merino would come on for his Gunners debut, replacing Thomas Partey who was also likely substituted with his injury history and recent heavy schedule in mind.
There were two quick-fire chances for the visitors who enjoyed a better spell of possession after introducing Fabian Ruiz and Randal Kolo Muani, with Joao Neves flicking onto the crossbar from a corner before Lee Kang-in made Raya uncomfortable with a swerving effort from distance.
Donnarumma then reacted sharply to keep out another effort before Paris were adamant they should have had a penalty after the ball struck Calafiori’s arm in the box, although to their frustration, it was checked and cleared by VAR with little fuss.
After an intense first half, you could see Arsenal tired in the second and the visitors did create some opportunities which they didn’t maximise but it was otherwise an impressive performance from Arteta’s men who keep ticking along to the next international break.
