PSG (h)

After the drama of Saturday, our attention turns back to the Champions League and our toughest home tie against French champions PSG. The game in Tuesday night at 8pm LIVE!!!! on Amazon Prime.

Our early team news
Riccardo Calafiori is the new doubt, although initial twitter rumours of a big injury have been quickly dispelled. Hopefully Ben White will return, but it will be too soon for Mikel Merino or Takehiro Tomiyasu.
If White and Calafiori miss out it raises an interesting question as to who will play full back, with Jakub Kiwior the favourite but Myles Lewis Skelly and Josh Nichols have played their way into contention.
Nwaneri, Sterling and Jesus, who is at his best in the CL, offer alternatives if Arteta wants to refresh the team although it is likely only injury will cause a change in the XI.

Week 1
We survived a massive scare away to Atalanta, David Raya's magical double save winning us a point.
PSG also had a goalkeeper to thank, as Girona 'keeper Paulo Gazzaniga scored an injury time own goal to gift the Parisians the win.

Domestic Form
5 wins and a draw from their opening 6 games leaves PSG top of Ligue 1. They have scored 20 and conceded just 5.

Injury woes
Like a lot of teams, PSG have suffered a lot already this season. 'Keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma has missed the last 3, with Presnel Kimpembe, Lucas Hernandez, Marco Asensio, Goncalo Ramos and Vitinha all out of Fridays 3-1 win over Reims. Desire Doue and Nuno Mendes also missed out for fitness and illness reasons but should be in consideration tomorrow.

Potential PSG XI
It is a very youthful looking PSG, and 22 year old Bradley Barcola is the one who has stood up to replace Kylian Mbappe. He has 6 goals this season from a wide left role, including 2 on Friday.
Ousmane Dembele is one of the senior players in the squad, and has 4 league goals. However, an argument with Luis Enrique, the PSG boss, may see him dropped from the squad. Doue,Randal Kolo Muani and 16 year old Ibrahim Mbaye are potential alternatives.
Holding the inexperienced defence together will be Brazilian international Marquinhos, with Moroccan right back Achraf Hakimi an attacking threat. Partnering Marquinhos should be young Ecuadorian Willian Pacho, who signed from Frankfurt in the summer, although they do have the very experienced Milan Skriniar available. 20 year old Lucas Beraldo may be the man marking Saka, although Nuno Mendes should be back. They could have Russian Matvey Safonov behind them in goal. After a summer move from Krasnodar, Safonov found himself thrown in with the Donnarumma injury.
Rumoured Arsenal transfer alternative to Merino, Fabian Ruiz, has started the last couple but it is the PSG young midfielders that are perhaps their jewels. Warren Zaire-Emery is still just 18 despite 2 seasons in the first team, while expensive summer signing Joao Neves is Portugals great hope at 20.
Up front should be either Kang-In Lee or Randal Kolo Muani. The Korean star netted his 3rd of the season on Friday, while RKM has 2.
Like us, PSG had to fill their bench will teenagers, naming just 7 of the permitted 9 subs on Friday.

Historical meetings<
We last met PSG back in the 16/17 group stage, with both games ending in draws. The away game saw Cavani net in the first minute before a late Alexis Sanchez equaliser. Perhaps the game was most noteworthy for both teams seeing red in injury time, Giroud for us and Veratti for them for a clash off the ball.
At the Emirates it was a tale of 2 own goals, as after Cavani and Giroud had shared goals, Veratti and Iwobi both netted against their own team in a 2-2 draw. A young Marquinhos played in both matches, while Kimpembe was also in the squad.
You have to go back to 1994 for the only other meetings - the Cup Winners Cup semi final. The first game was in the Parc de Princes and introduced David Ginola to the English public. His battle with Lee Dixon over the two legs is legendary, and it was Ginola who equalised an Ian Wright first half goal in a game we were on top and unlucky not to win. We took the tie back to Highbury with an away goal, where Kevin Campbell (R.I.P.) gave us a very early lead and a defensive masterclass sent us to the final and a glorious night in Copenhagen!

Group Standings
At this early stage, both teams find themselves bang in the middle - PSG are 15th and Arsenal 16th. While it remains to be seen what is needed to get top 8, the target for both, it looks like a number of teams will win at least 5 games. To get a statement win early in the competition will push our chances up, while a draw or defeat could already leave us 4 or 5 points off that top 8. Easier games are on the horizon but pressure will quickly grow.



It should be a tough game, and we will have to massively improve on our attacking game compared to the Atalanta game. It looks like two teams who have had similar starts to the season, with injury causing headaches.