Arsenal-PSV Eindhoven is a match from the first day of the Champions League group stage and is played on Wednesday at 9 pm: TV, lineups, predictions.
Six and a half years. So much has passed since Arsenal’s last Champions League match. The Gunners make their return to the continent’s top competition thanks to last year’s second-place finish in the Premier League.
For a long time Mikel Arteta and his men nurtured the dream of winning the title, only to collapse at the most beautiful moment and give way to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, champions for the third consecutive time. In any case, the Basque-born coach has had the merit of making a team that had suffered from underwhelming seasons competitive again. And he has succeeded by carrying out an ambitious but at the same time sustainable project, in which young people-especially those coming out of the youth academy-have played a central role. Arsenal got off on the right foot again this year, having added such thick players to its roster as Havertz and Rice, who arrived from Chelsea and West Ham, respectively. In the first five days of the Champions League, the Londoners have had four wins (Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace, Manchester United and Everton) and one draw (Fulham). Not to mention that in August the Community Shield had ended up in the trophy cabinet, by virtue of the penalty shootout success with Manchester City.
PSV, what a start
It is in any case an Arsenal still breaking in, as seen last Sunday in Liverpool against Everton. While not shining, the Gunners went 1-0 up at Goodison Park, a pitch that had reserved them only bitterness lately, thanks to a goal by Trossard.
de Jong
The Champions round they have fallen into is not an impossible one. There are Europa League holders Sevilla, Lens and also Psv Eindhoven, whom Arsenal had already faced last year in the group stage of the second international event. With the Dutch, they fought for first place until the last day and finally came out on top by a couple of points. The Emirates Stadium will welcome a team in fine form: Psv, coached by former Bayer Leverkusen and Lyon coach Peter Bosz, got off to a rocket start, winning all four of their first Eredivisie matches and never scoring less than two goals. In the preliminary round, the red and white took revenge on Rangers, who in the previous edition had ousted them in the very playoffs: 2-2 in Scotland and 5-1 at Philips Stadion. In short, the basis for an opening of another important cycle seems to be there despite the excellent disposals of Gakpo and Simons.
The prediction
A year ago, in the Europa League, it ended 1-0 to the Gunners in London and 2-0 in Eindhoven, with Psv managing to avenge the first leg defeat. Undeniably, the Dutch are having a positive period at home, proving that they can do well in Europe as well with their bombastic 5-1 win at Rangers, but getting a result in London against Arsenal will not be easy. The feeling though is that, unlike last fall, they could score a goal.
The likely lineups for Arsenal-PSV Eindhoven
- ARSENAL (4-3-3): Raya; Tomiyasu, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Rice, Ødegaard, Havertz; Saka, Gabriel Jesus, Trossard.
- PSV EINDHOVEN (4-3-3): Benítez; Dest, Ramalho, Bella-Kotchap, van Aanholt; Schouten, Saibari, Veerman; Bakayoko, de Jong, Lang.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-1
