It seems guaranteed that Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain are set to serve up a game for the ages in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final.
With Bukayo Saka struggling against PSG and Ousmane Dembele ready to help the French giants reach the second Champions League final in their history, both sets of stars will be raring to go ahead of the clash.
Both managers will be determined to come out on top as well, with Mikel Arteta hoping to restore Arsenal’s status as a true powerhouse in world football and Luis Enrique motivated by the chance of winning his second treble.
Enrique is aware Arsenal could beat PSG and stage a comeback in the second leg while Arteta has witnessed his side tasting defeat against the Ligue 1 winners on Tuesday night.
Rio Ferdinand has previewed Arsenal’s much-awaited clash against PSG next week.
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Rio Ferdinand predicts PSG to beat Arsenal in Champions League semi-final
Rio Ferdinand initially broke down how Arsenal’s lack of a striker against PSG could hurt them as it could allow the hosts not to be wary of playing on the front foot and sending players up the pitch in numbers at the Parc des Princes.
With how devastating PSG’s attack is, Rio Ferdinand believes Arsenal not having a natural striker on their books could hurt them.
The pundit went on to back the Parisians to defeat the Gunners on Rio Ferdinand Presents’ YouTube channel: “My biggest concern with Arsenal is that without a centre-forward, this Paris Saint-Germain team can go man-to-man, one-v-one at the back, especially when they’re on the attack and be comfortable, fairly comfortable, which means they have numbers further up the pitch to outnumber this Arsenal team and really suffocate them and keep them back.”
“I’m going to go, [Lautaro] Martinez is out as well, big miss for them so I’m going to Barca against Paris Saint-Germain [in the Champions League final] as well.”
Mikel Arteta claimed what Arsenal need to do to beat PSG
Mikel Merino believes Arsenal will defeat PSG as he was confident about the Gunners’ chances of progressing right after the contest at the Emirates Stadium.
But Rio Ferdinand was in Manchester United’s team the last time Arsenal took part in the second leg a Champions League semi-final in 2009, which they lost 3-1 — and even this time around, defeating PSG at the Parc des Princes will be a huge challenge for them.
But Mikel Arteta is aware that for his side to conquer the French juggernaut, they simply have to up their game.
Arteta said via HaytersTV: “So, I think that we need to be better and that we need to be better week in, week out.”
“We know that there was not that much in it, we were on the same wavelength this evening and it could have gone another way and we needed to pull things on our side.”
Mikel Arteta concluded: “We needed to be a bit more accurate and we have wet our appetite and we want to go to Paris and do what we need to do.”
