Leave it to Arsenal to begin their Champions League in the most difficult way possible. In the tie of the round, Arsenal travel to Paris to face French champions PSG. After last season, Arsenal know they’ll be able to progress even if they stumble tonight. However, they’ll want to set the tone so that they’ll be able to swerve Barcelona or Bayern Munich when they reach the knock out stages.
Arsenal will need need a positive result here nonetheless and it's here where money can be made with Bet365. New Bet365 customers receive a 100% deposit bonus. When you deposit £10 or more you will qualify for a matched amount to bet with, up to £200. Given the excellent markets on offer for Saturday’s early kick off, you stand to win money from the match.
Thanks to some unlikely allies, the prospect of facing Paris isn’t the same had they faced them just 12 months ago. As deadline day drew to a close, Chelsea’s pursuit of a centre-back led them full circle to David Luiz who happily returned to his former club. While it’s debatable whether that hurts or boosts PSG’s defence - there’s no denying that Luiz is a big character, which can be invaluable in a dressing room that is in the midst of a transition.
Manchester United have also played their part in easing the burden on Arsenal’s defence tonight in signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Swede is easily the biggest loss to PSG both on and off the pitch. He was a leader to the younger players and a focal point for the French side’s creative sources, such as Angel Di Maria and Lucas Moura.
Ibrahimovic scored or assisted 51 of the 101 goals PSG scored in Ligue 1 last season - and in just 29 starts. In Europe he scored 5 and assisted 3 of PSG’s 18 goals, leaving a massive deficit for the team to adjust to. And all of this under a new manager, Unai Emery, who’s brought with him a new ethos and style which the remaining players are struggling with. Following a massive 3-1 loss away at Monaco, they were only able to draw at home to Saint-Étienne, a team they’d won each of their last 10 games against.
Arsenal haven’t particularly impressed this season, but have shown they just have a little more about them than they have done in previous seasons. Their first game of the season saw them fall behind 4-1 after an hour, but instead of heads dropping, the Gunners fought back and found themselves unlucky to have not taken at least a point from that game. This weekend, they again found themselves at the wrong end of a scoreline after just 20 minutes, but battled back and netted a fortunate winner deep into injury time.
After showing a little more steel than in previous seasons, even Arsene Wenger has talked up Arsenal’s chances in this Champions League campaign. Earlier this week he said: "The squad is between 24 and 30 [years old] basically, that's where you have a good combination of physical strength and experience but we want to keep the fact we give a chance to young players and get the mixture right."
What does all this mean for tonight then?
PSG might be experiencing some teething problems and longing for a giant Swede to lead their line, but what they do have is experience playing host to English opposition. In their last 6 Champions League campaigns they have hosted an English team 5 times, 2 of those last season. In that time they have lost just 1 of those home games - and it was in the 2004/05 season. Conversely, Arsenal have won each of their last 7 away games against French sides in European competition. Expect Arsenal to get a result in the City of Lights tonight - the Gunners to win or draw is available at 1.85 on Bet365.
While it looks likely that Laurent Koscielny will start despite injury concerns, taking an attacking line of Lucas Moura, Edinson Cavani and Di Maria while not 100% could spell trouble - or a lot of work for Petr Cech. Expect both PSG and Arsenal to score, which is available at a modest 1.70, but for them to leave it late.
Arsenal have scored a goal in the second half in 12 of their last 15 Champions League away games. In fact the only matches they didn’t net in the second half were games they failed to score in at all. PSG are also no stranger to a late goal. Each of their last 7 goals in all competitions have been scored after the break. Expect the opening 45 minutes to be cagey as the teams suss each other out and both teams to find the back of the net in the second half, which you can get at 3.25.
