This article was first published on footballromance.com (a predecessor to this website) in September 2016.
Line-ups
Skipper Thiago Silva came into the Paris Saint-Germain line-up for the first time this season after injury, while summer signing Grzegorz Krychowiak made his first start for the club, replacing Thiago Motta in midfield. Regular Ligue 1 stopper Kevin Trapp also made way, with Alphonse Areola, back at the club after three successful loan spells, starting between the sticks. Blaise Matuidi was shifted out to the left of a somewhat lop-sided midfield.
Arsène Wenger sprang a surprise by naming David Ospina in goal ahead of Petr Cech, while both Olivier Giroud and Lucas Perez, Arsenal’s only available strikers, started on the bench. Youngster Alex Iwobi was given the nod on the left flank, with Alexis Sanchez occupying a more central role.
PSG’s lightning start
Such is the demand these days for instant success, particularly at a club with such vast resources, PSG headed into the game under pressure after taking just one point from the last six available in Ligue 1, but they made a hugely positive start to the match and were instantly rewarded. Angel Di Maria’s backward run pulled Laurent Koscielny into midfield and left space for the marauding Serge Aurier to latch onto Marco Verratti’s pinpoint dink forward and the right-back’s near-post cross found Edinson Cavani, who evaded the attentions of Shkodran Mustafi far too easily to score after just 41 seconds.
As ever, Di Maria played narrow on the right, which was the side of the pitch on which Paris were at their most dangerous throughout. According to FourFourTwo StatsZone, Aurier delivered no fewer than eight crosses into the area (although only two were successful), while his 17 passes to Di Maria were the highest combination between any two players. The Argentinian dropped deep and slipped inside on numerous occasions, which was often also the signal for Cavani to make some terrific movements in behind the away defence, a strategy which led to several opportunities for the Uruguayan, who worked tirelessly but continued to misfire in front of goal.
Arsenal outpaced and outmuscled in midfield
It wasn’t the first time that the hosts had adopted an aggressive approach from the off in the Champions League in recent years and they were intent on doing considerably more damage as they kept up the lightning pace for the next 20 minutes or so. Unai Emery’s side completely overran their opponents in midfield, with the Gunners’ deep-lying playmaker Santi Cazorla unable to make more than a handful of passes into the opposition half in the first period as a result.
The outmuscled Cazorla and Francois Coquelin offered their centre-backs precious little protection, with the forward runs of Adrien Rabiot and Blaise Matuidi, who started wide on the left but often drifted infield, continuously having to be monitored by Koscielny and Mustafi, who already had their hands full with Cavani.
Krychowiak – insurance policy and instigator
The PSG midfield, on the other hand, possessed an insurance policy by the name of Grzegorz Krychowiak, whose value to the team was most noted in the latter part of the half when the hosts unsurprisingly needed to take a breather and the Londoners saw more of the ball. Defensively, the Pole played a huge role in limiting Mezut Ozil’s involvement and showed great alertness and anticipation to sweep up after his teammates – most commonly Rabiot – had surrendered possession.
But not only did the ex-Sevilla man break up the play, he also played a key role in starting attacks, often positioning himself close to and feeding the influential Verratti, who played more passes than any other player on the pitch, as per WhoScored. Additionally, Krychowiak always made himself available for centre-backs Thiago Silva and Marquinhos when they had the ball – the former had a 100% pass success rate in the first half, while the latter made 13 of his 15 passes (the unsuccessful two were rather adventurous ones upfield).
Silva and Marquinhos were rarely put under any pressure, partly because Alexis Sanchez, theoretically listed as Arsenal’s lone ‘striker’, continuously dropped into the midfield space expertly marshalled by Krychowiak. With no-one running into the space vacated by the Chilean and he, Ozil and Iwobi all getting in each other’s way, the Gunners’ attacks frequently broke down before they got anywhere near the box (they completed just three passes into the penalty box in the first half, none of which were in central areas).
Gunners pushing up after half time
Arsène Wenger’s side were, however, able to impose themselves on the game much more in the second half; that said, Les Rouges-et-Bleus squandered some clear-cut chances to extend their lead and probably secure the three points.
Arsenal’s starting position was considerably further up the field after half time, evidenced by the fact that Koscielny didn’t touch the ball once in opposition territory in the first period but brought the ball out of defence and into the PSG half a couple of times inside the first few minutes of the second.
Paris’ danger on the break and in behind
That, of course, meant there was plenty of space in behind for the hosts to exploit, a dangerous tactic given the pace in their side. An extremely promising counter attack with men over was brought to a halt only by a poor pass from Aurier, while Verratti floated the ball in between Koscielny and Nacho Monreal for Di Maria, who was clean through on goal but took too long and allowed the Spaniard to recover. Some brilliant link-up play, meanwhile, between Aurier and Di Maria completely took out Monreal and required David Ospina to rush from his line to save.
There were signs that the Londoners had learned their lesson from the opening period, as the Paris midfield were afforded less time on the ball in general and there was greater movement in attacking areas, with Alex Oxlade-Chambelain and Alex Iwobi drifting into central areas to compensate for Sanchez’ continued wandering.
Yet there were also occasions on which their weaknesses from the first half reappeared; Verratti was put under no pressure in the aforementioned move which led to Di Maria’s chance, the Italian also found it easy to pick out Aurier, whose cross was headed over by Matuidi, while Rabiot bustled his way through the centre of the field in the attack which saw Cavani have yet another guilt-edged chance saved by Ospina.
Giroud a focal point, more space for Ozil, Sanchez
Giroud’s introduction just after the hour-mark gave Arsenal a focal point and kept Silva and Marquinhos occupied, which in turn created more space for the likes of Ozil and Sanchez in which to work their magic. Indeed, only seconds after Giroud had come on, Alexis found the menacing run of Iwobi, who was denied the chance to shoot only by a last-ditch block.
But the switch did pay dividends with just under 15 minutes to go; Marquinhos and then Silva were forced to deal with Giroud’s physicality, while Ozil was able to pull wide to escape Krychowiak’s attention and play his only successful pass into the middle of the penalty area for the completely unmarked Iwobi, whose shot was parried into the path of Sanchez, who netted after receiving the ball in the box for just the second time in the contest.
Both teams going for the win
Emery immediately withdrew Krychowiak for Javier Pastore, a change which made for a very open finish. The substitute and Di Maria acted almost as twin number 10s and, with Arsenal still readjusting, Pastore’s slide-rule pass played Cavani clean through on goal, only for Ospina to prevail once more.
But at the other end, the gamble of replacing Krychowiak with a much more attack-minded player nearly backfired, as Sanchez found space in dangerous areas in front of the PSG defence on a couple of occasions. The best chance for a winner in the dying embers did in fact come for the Gunners, with the Chilean running at the home defence – for practically the first time in the match – before finding the darting run of Iwobi, whose shot was saved by Areola.
What next?
PSG have now failed to win in three matches (for the first time in two years ) and much of the blame will lie at the feet of Cavani, who could quite easily have netted four or five times. The hope is that (more) goals will come for the Uruguayan if hr continues to make the right runs and get in the correct positions, but his profligacy has become somewhat chronic and there are serious doubts about whether the Parisians will be able to move up to the next level in Europe without a top-class striker.
Arsenal will have been very pleased to escape with a point from their toughest away game in the group stages, especially given the clear opportunities they surrendered. The selection of Ospina ahead of Cech certainly didn’t prove to be a hinderance (but who’s to say Cech wouldn’t also have made the saves Ospina did?), although it took the Gunners until the second half to became an effective force in attack. He has his critics, but Giroud does appear to give Ozil, Sanchez and others the freedom they need to play at their best.