UEFA Champions League, Group A

Paris St. Germain face Arsenal to move away from Ligue 1 troubles

Optimistic Arsenal travel to Paris as the hosts will be giving their everything to record a victory after somewhat shaky league start.

By Richard Downing

The French champions haven’t enjoyed a very successful start in the Ligue 1 under Unai Emery, and will be looking to improve as they host Arsenal in the Champions League.

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After losing to Monaco, PSG drew with Saint Etienne and find themselves in the 7th place of the Ligue 1 at the moment. Unai Emery certainly didn’t enjoy a stellar start but there’s plenty of time remaining to turn their fortunes around. However, Champions League is completely different competition and every misstep can be heavily punished, meaning the French champions must do their best to defeat Arsenal in this encounter.

Arsenal on the other hand have never lost in France in the Champions League. Wenger’s side has often started slow in the Group Stages and it will be interesting to see how they fare this time.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger believes Ibrahimovic represents a significant loss to the French side.

‘They will be continue to be the dominant team in France but they lost more than a player with Ibrahimovic,’ Wenger said in the build-up.

‘He was the leader, the captain, a charismatic carrier of the ambition of the club and it’s always difficult to measure, when you lose a player of that stature, how big the damage is.

‘At the moment they have also changed managers so they are trying to find their feet at the moment.’

Head to Head:

PSG and Arsenal have met only twice in history, both times in the semifinals of Cup Winners Cup in 93/94 season. After a 1-1 draw in Paris, Arsenal managed to win 1-0 at Highbury – Kevin Campbell scored the winner.

Arsenal proceeded to beat Parma 1-0 in the Final and win the competition.

Team news:

PSG could be boosted by the return of captain Thiago Silva, who has not featured since the International Champions Cup in July, but they will still be without Maxwell, Javier Pastore, and Serge Aurier.

As for the visitors, Wenger must do without injured club captain Per Mertesacker and Garbriel on Tuesday but French international striker Olivier Giroud is back in contention for a place. Laurent Koscielny should also be fit and should play alongside Mustafi. Aaron Ramsey is still struggling with a hamstring problem.

Match facts:

  • Arsenal are unbeaten in their 12 away games against French clubs in European competition, including winning their last seven.
  • This is the Ligue 1 side’s fifth consecutive Champions League campaign and ninth in total. Only Lyon have more appearances in the competition among French clubs, with a total of 14.
  • Arsenal have qualified for the Champions League for the 19th consecutive season, with only Real Madrid boasting a longer current streak of 20.
  • Arsenal have made it past the group stages in the last 13 seasons but have been knocked out at the last 16 stage in the last six campaigns. Their solitary Champions League final ended in defeat against Barcelona in 2006.
  • Petr Cech has kept 47 clean sheets in 111 Champions League games. Only Iker Casillas (51) and Edwin van der Sar (50) have kept more among goalkeepers.
  • Alexis Sanchez has scored three and assisted five of Arsenal’s last 13 Champions League goals.
  • Wenger has taken charge of 176 games in the Champions League, more than any other current manager. Only Alex Ferguson boasts more games, with 190.
  • Defender Layvin Kurzawa has scored four goals already this season: one in the Super Cup, two in Ligue 1 and his first for France in the 3-1 friendly win against Italy in Bari on 1 September.
  • Arsenal had more players in the France squad for Euro 2016 than their Paris opponents, with Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny both featuring. PSG’s Blaise Matuidi featured in every game as the hosts finished runners-up.

Possible lineups:

PSG: Trapp; Meunier, Marquinhos, Kimpembe, Kurzawa; Motta, Verratti, Rabiot; Moura, Di Maria, Cavani.

Arsenal: Cech; Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal; Cazorla, Coquielin, Walcott, Sanchez, Ozil; Giroud.

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Date: 13 Sep 2016

Time: 20:45 CET (19:45 BST)

Venue: Parc des Princes, Paris, France

Referee: Viktor Kassai (HUN)