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Arsenal picked up their first champions league win of the season tonight as they comfortably saw off a lack lustre Paris Saint-Germain side at The Emirates.
Goals from German attacker Kai Havertz and English winger Bukayo Saka were enough to put the French outfit to bed, with Haverz gaining his 6th goal of the season for club and country.
Arsenal were the more dominant of the 2 sides early on, with some swift build up play leading to Saka lifting an effort over the bar from 15 yards or so from goal.
The Gunners’ early dominance would be rewarded in the 20th minute of the first half, where a delightful ball from Leandro Trossard would glide past the head of former Frankfurt defender William Pacho and find its way to a brave Kai Havertz who would notch home past a scrambling Gianluigi Donnarumma in the PSG goal. 1-0.
Former AC Milan stopper Donnarumma would fail to cover himself in much glory for Arsenal’s second goal, as a quick and low ball in from Saka would glide past him as he attempted to blindly palm the ball away from his goal. Though some may blame young winger Bradley Barcola for his inability to clear the danger, a wildly off course flap from the Italian would mean Saka would score his first Champions league goal since scoring in a 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich last season.Though Thomas Partey initially attempted to claim the goal, replays clearly showed there was no touch on the way through, and Saka would gain his 5th ever champions league goal. 2-0.
PSG were not without their chances in the first half however, as Portuguese left-back Nuno Mendes would make a marauding run down the left hand side before a powerful effort would bend its way onto the post to David Raya’s left. Other than that, it was a poor half for the French champions who had a mountain to climb in the second half. HT: Arsenal 2-0 Paris Saint-Germain.
The second half would take a while to liven up, as both teams struggled to find any offensive fluidity in the early stages of the final half. PSG would come close in the 65th minute, however, when Joao Neves would come close with an akward effort slamming off the bar from 6 yards out following a corner.
They would continue to probe with South Korean attacker Kang-In Lee, who struck a wild effort at Raya from 30 yards out that, despite the amount of swerve and pace behind it, failed to trouble him too much.
Arsenal gained a good chance for a third in the final 20 minutes of the game when in the 73rd minute Gabriel Martinelli would be denied from close range by Donnarumma.
From here, 2 VAR checks for potential PSG penalties were dismissed, one in the 77th minute for a denied handball against Riccardo Califiori (who played right-back in the second half due to concern over Jurrien Timber) and another in the 88th minute where Randal Kolo Muani’s protests over a shirt pull in the box were denied.
In the end, a full throttle and high entertainment first half with a couple moments of clinicality (and potentially even a stroke of luck) was enough to see Arsenal through in the end, picking up 3 points and moving into the top 8 for now. FT: Arsenal 2-0 Paris Saint-Germain.
Arsenal have Southampton and Bournemouth in the Premier League next before hosting Shaktar Donetsk in the Champions League in just under 3 weeks time. Similarly, PSG face Nice and Strasbourg before facing PSV Eindhoven back at the Parc des Princes on October 22nd.
