For the last 16 years in succession PSG’s opponents Arsenal have reached the second stage of the competition, only to suffer the frustration of defeat in the first knockout round for six seasons in a row. It’s a city I love, it’s my country, a country I love.
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Arsenal won at Watford before the worldwide break, having previously taken only one point from their first two games of the season, and Wenger said: “Two wins together is a big help, it gives players more confidence to get to where we want to be”.
While the two haven’t had the worst starts to PSG’s Ligue 1 campaign, the team, overall, haven’t looked as sharp as they did for 90% of last season.
“Because I love where I am”, said Wenger.
Unai Emery arrived in France with a reputation as one of Europe’s brightest coaching talents, but he admits that he has moved out of his “comfort zone” by taking the Paris Saint-Germain job.
“They are a bit like us with a number of players who came back a bit late (from summer holidays), so they have had to an extent the same problems as us”, Wenger said.
Should Koscielny miss out at Parc des Princes, it will be down to Rob Holding to fill the boots in what would be his first competitive fixture outside England. “There is no symbolism to it, no symbolic meaning to this match”.
The difference in recent years, however, is that the Frenchman has opted to stay at Arsenal even though many fans have become far more skeptical about his ability to lead the club to another Premier League title or a first Champions League.
The same could be said for PSG.
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Southampton remains without a win four games into the season and new manager Claude Puel is frustrated that his team has conceded three penalties. “We need to blame ourselves because we had the opportunities and we should have done better”. In the second half, I think he did much better. “I hope he proves that against PSG”. When I think about the squad, when you choose a captain as well, you think of one with a good chance to play in every single game and that’s not easy nowadays.
