PSG a good yardstick to measure European progress

Good morning.

We are in Champions League action tonight, taking on PSG at home. After a draw in our opening game against Atalanta, three points later on would be very welcome, and Mikel Arteta will have some thinking to do about his team.

Describing Riccardo Calafiori as ’emotional’ after the final whistle of the Leicester game, the Italian was seen in training  yesterday, allaying fears/rumours of an injury. But is there any element of risk in playing him later on? The Ben White situation might play a part in that, if he can return at right-back, then Jurrien Timber could play on the left. There’s also Jakub Kiwior to consider, and if the manager was feeling really brave, Myles Lewis-Skelly is an option too.

It was also good to see both Mikel Merino and Takehiro Tomiyasu back in training, but it remains to be seen how ready they are. There’s a picture doing the rounds of the summer signing from Real Sociedad sliding into a tackle, so having been ‘caged’ by the medical staff since picking up that shoulder injury, he’s obviously been released into the wild. Arteta played down the idea that we’d have anyone back ahead of this game, but by this point we must have learned not to take what he says about injury and player availability as gospel.

Beyond that, I don’t see much changing from the side that beat Leicester. Perhaps Jorginho for Partey, but ahead of that position, I can’t see any alteration unless there’s a physical reason to do it. Gabriel Martinelli was back on the scoresheet and provided an assist at the weekend; Leandro Trossard scored one and forced an own goal; Kai Havertz scored with his mickey; and Bukayo Saka was brilliant. So, against opposition like this, why do anything different?

PSG are without Ousmane Dembele after he had a weekend spat with Luis Enrique, but they still have plenty of quality. Is there more balance in their side after the departure of Kylian Mbappe? I don’t watch enough Ligue 1 to say, but I’d much rather be playing them without him than with him.

It is, when you look at some of the other fixtures in our open stage to the competition, a bit of a glamour tie on paper – even if PSG’s strength is completely manufactured due to their ownership and financial power.

On tonight, Arteta says:

Everybody is looking forward to it. We missed it for a number of years, and last year was the first one after so many years that we had the experience to do it. The group stage is a bit different this season and the opposition we are going to face tomorrow is probably at the highest level that you can face in European football. But honestly, it’s a good opportunity for us to see how we deal with these nights, how prepared we are and how we can impose ourselves in this kind of context.

I’m curious to see how PSG approach this. They obviously enjoy significant domestic dominance, and while I don’t necessarily want to say that makes things easier for them, will that inform how they view tonight? Will they look to play the same way they play against a team down the bottom of their own league, or will our strength and growing reputation have an impact?

It’s also another way measure our progression as a team. I’ve been struck by the maturity and the ability to dig out good results even with challenges and absences that would have been too difficult to surmount not too long ago. Now, can we assert ourselves at this level, and produce the kind of performance and result that will give us further belief going forward? I guess we’ll find our later on.

Join us later for live blog coverage, plus you’ll get the match report, goal clips, reaction, player ratings and much more over on Arseblog News.

For now, have a good one, and come on you reds!

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