At a Glance:
Gary Neville on Arsenal’s big boost against PSG.
Champions League final next Saturday.
Mikel Arteta is confident Arsenal will beat PSG.
Arsenal will now have all eyes fixated on their upcoming Champions League final clash against Paris Saint-Germain.
Arsenal encounter against PSG is likely to be the toughest test of the season for multiple reasons.
Firstly, the Gunners will be aware that they will play in the biggest game in club football and secondly, Luis Enrique’s side are arguably the best team in the world.
PSG could determine Mikel Arteta’s legacy as a victory in Budapest would mean the Spaniard achieves two massive feats.
First manager in Arsenal history to win Europe’s elite competition
First Arsenal manager to win the league and Champions League double
Gary Neville previewed the contest after the Gunners lifted the league title on Sunday.
Gary Neville says Arsenal winning the Premier League early could help them against PSG
Speaking on Sky Sports’ The Gary Neville Podcast, the pundit felt that one huge help for Arsenal heading into their much-awaited Champions League final clash against PSG is winning the Premier League with one game to spare.
With AFC Bournemouth holding Manchester City to a 1-1 draw recently, Mikel Arteta’s side were crowned champions before even playing Crystal Palace in their penultimate league game of the season.
Gary Neville said: “Do you know what was so good for Arsenal? Them winning it four, five days early. 12, 13 days of preparation against Paris Saint-Germain.
“Let them celebrate on Tuesday night, let them have a couple of days off, which is obviously what happened and then let them have a long, long, long build-up and it’s more recovery than training to be fair. But tactical thought, important. I’m sure they won’t start looking at that till Monday morning.
While Mikel Arteta was ecstatic about winning the title, Gary Neville also insisted that the Arsenal players should rest ahead of their contest against PSG instead of celebrating their league triumph.
“But what they’ll have on Monday morning is a group of players who’ve had five, six days of rest. And that’s really important right now but I’m sure they’ll go to bed quite early, they had their celebration five days ago. No celebration tonight.”
Mikel Arteta is confident about Arsenal winning the Champions League final
With key players such as William Saliba, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Magalhaes, Martin Odegaard, David Raya and Viktor Gyokeres all being rested, Mikel Arteta’s side will be fresh against the Parisians.
However, PSG also won Ligue 1 with a game to go and despite playing several big names in their last game against Paris FC, their league campaign finished a week ago.
The good news for the supporters is that Mikel Arteta believes Arsenal will beat PSG and perhaps a part of the reason why is due to Gary Neville’s claim as well.
Arteta said: “It’s what I said and now, this shirt represents something else and now we have the opportunity to write new history at our club. And I’m convinced that we’re going to do it.”