Arsenal travel to Paris on Tuesday night to play their most difficult game of the Champions League group stages – one that Wenger hopes will bring out an efficient, defensive performance.
Saturday saw a disjointed performance as players were rested – Granit Xhaka, Alexis Sanchez and Olivier Giroud should slot straight back into the lineup. The rest of the team should remain largely the same, although Wenger could be advised, depending on his tactics, to carry on with Lucas Perez up front, as he provides great pace on the counter attack.
We could see a lineup which produced such performances at Manchester City the season before last, with sturdy defence supplemented with efficiency up front. Wenger has a big decision to make with the brilliant but aging Santi Cazorla – does he go with the player who can so effectively link defence and attack, or more of a ‘bruiser’ such as Coquelin, to break up the play?
Arsenal’s tactics should effectively be playing a back 6 and a front 4, where one gives freedom to the other. We are unlikely to dominate possession and should play as so – using Giroud as a target man, the wingers as ball carriers and Ozil as the playmaker to force the ball into the final third. The issue here will be scoring, although the defence has looked sturdy enough recently but Arsenal’s attack is yet to find a sense of rhythm.
PSG, on the other hand, haven’t started the season explosively and are carrying a number of defensive injuries however, with a midfield that may even exceed Arsenal’s in terms of talent, they are still likely to dominate the ball, meaning the double pivot needs to be as tenacious as usual.
This game is likely to come down to Arsenal’s defensive performance – keep it clean at the back, and the ingenuity of Ozil and Alexis should take the 3 points.
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