“We had a slightly tough start with a few players late back after worldwide duty over the summer”. PSG is now placed fourth in the league standings with just seven points from first four games. They’re used to playing at this level. In what could be his final season with the Gunners, Wenger now feels the club is better prepared for the campaign compared to previous seasons when the squad lacked experience. Can Emery, with a Zlatan Ibrahimovic-less side do something different this time?
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That left the champions three points behind Monaco, who had beaten them 3-1 in the previous league fixture.
The Spaniard, a £17.1million signing from Deportivo La Coruna in August, made his debut for the club in a 2-1 win over Southampton on Saturday.
They will have a better opportunity than originally envisaged against an uncharacteristically fragile PSG side who have laboured at times since Emery replaced Laurent Blanc over the summer.
Although Arsenal have always qualified for the knockout stages since the inception of the new format in 2003/04, they have failed to progress past the Round of 16 in recent seasons. This could be Arsene Wenger’s final season at the helm and he will be hoping to go out with a bang.
PSG have been crowned French champions for the past four seasons and are backed by wealthy owners Qatari Sports Investments, who Wenger says he “knows well”. So far, there have been no hints as to whether the 66-year-old boss will continue to manage Arsenal after the end of the 2016/17 season. The full-back is excellent at going forwards, but he can be caught out of position and Di Maria has the quality to punish him.
A number of defensive injuries in the squad will also give Emery a bit of a headache leading up to the Arsenal clash as the likes of Thiago Silva (club captain), Layvin Kurzawa, Serge Aurier, and Maxwell are all on the injured list, and will be unavailable for selection.
“I think that PSG are very strong in midfield”.
Another year, another Champions League Group Stage.
Venue – Parc des Princes, Paris. Maxwell and Serge Aurier are set to miss Tuesday’s match.
The Gunners skipper scored a spectacular equaliser to cancel out a Petr Cech own goal, and received treatment for a head wound following an aerial challenge that led to Arsenal’s match-winning penalty. Aaron Ramsey is closing in on a return and could feature on the bench in France.
Now it is time for them to show why Wenger, a man portrayed as someone tight with the purse-strings, spent so much in one transfer window. The French club are ravaged with injuries and could have to start with a makeshift back four on Tuesday night.
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A sentiment echoed by Arsene Wenger in his post-game comments, Gooners did get the chance to see both Shkodran Mustafi and Lucas Perez in Arsenal shirts for the first time however. What we need to do to win the group is to get a good result here tomorrow.
