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With Arsenal’s Premier League title ambitions in tatters, the Gunners shift their attention to Europe as they welcome PSV for the second leg of their last-16 Champions League tie.
Mikel Arteta’s men are getting a lot of flack for their underwhelming number of goals in recent weeks, despite winning 7-1 against their Dutch rivals just a week ago.
Not counting the trip to Eindhoven, Arsenal have scored a measly three goals in their last five matches, leading us to one of two conclusions. Either the Gunners had a really good one-off performance, or the Dutch side are just a bit s**t.
We’re leaning towards the latter considering PSV have won just three of their last 10 matches – the majority of which being domestic league and cup games.
Clearly the Eindhoven outfit require a footballing miracle on Tuesday night. And by miracle, we’re talking Derren Brown, Dynamo-style mentalist type black magic.
Six goals are required to simply level the tie and scoring that many goals past the Gunners has only happened 23 times in their 138-year history. In fact, you would need to go back a century to find the majority of such examples.
Realistically speaking, Arsenal are practically through to the next round and can begin to make plans for either Aston Villa or Club Brugge in the quarter-finals. The only real question on Wednesday is how the hosts approach the fixture and whether they decide to field a full-strength team.
Considering Arsenal’s Premier League title ambitions are all but over, you’d think the Gunners can now put all their chips on the Champions League. Fielding a strong side and giving PSV another hiding would send a statement of intent, but then again, does Arteta risk further injuries and suspensions to his key players for a tie that’s already wrapped up?
Here, we take a closer look at Wednesday’s Champions League encounter, including team news, stats and where to watch.
Arsenal team news
There are potential suspension worries for Arsenal as Raheem Sterling, Jurrien Timber and Gabriel Martinelli are all one booking away from a European ban. With that in mind, Arteta may choose to keep the trio on the sidelines.
They would join the injured quartet of Bukayo Saka, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus who are all out with hamstring and knee problems.
The likes of Oleksandr Zinchenko, Kieran Tierney, Ben White, Jorginho, and Jakub Kiwior will be knocking on Arteta’s door, pushing to make an appearance against PSV.
Arsenal predicted line up
PSV team news
PSV head into Wednesday’s encounter without the injured trio of Malik Tillman, Ricardo Pepi and Esmir Bajraktarevic.
Former Arsenal man Lucas Perez recently joined PSV and is ineligible to compete for the club in the Champions League.
Otherwise, Peter Bosz is expected to field his strongest possible side as the Dutch outfit look to make the aggregate score a tad more respectable. Centre-forward Luuk de Jong will be leading that effort.
PSV predicted line up
Arsenal vs PSV: How to watch and listen
Fan can watch Wednesday’s Champions League clash live on Amazon Prime and listen to live radio coverage on BBC Radio 5 Live.
Arsenal vs PSV stats
The only English team to score 10 goals across two legs in the Champions League was Man City back in 2018/19 when they beat Schalke 10-2
PSV are winless in their last six away major European games in England, including two defeats at the Emirates
PSV have won four of their last 20 matches in England, beating Leeds (twice), Newcastle and Tottenham
Arsenal have won their last five Champions League matches, scoring 20 goals and conceding three
PSV haven’t kept a clean sheet away from home in the Champions League since March 2016, conceding in each of their last 15 away games in the comp
Arsenal vs PSV referee stats
Slovenia’s Rade Obrenovic will be the man in the middle for Wednesday’s Champions League encounter at the Emirates.
This will be his fourth assignment in the competition this season, previously overseeing Benfica’s 3-2 win at Monaco back in November – a match which saw seven bookings, including a sending off.
Last week, Obrenovic was in European action when he oversaw Tottenham’s 1-0 defeat to AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League.
Arsenal vs PSV prediction
Arsenal 17/40, Draw 7/2, PSV 6/1
With two wins from six games across all competitions, Arsenal are not exactly firing on all cylinders. That, however, didn’t stop them from putting seven goals past PSV in the first leg.
The Gunners are likely to make changes and that, coupled with PSV’s desperation for goals, should make for interesting viewing.
See the full prediction below…