PSV Eindhoven vs Arsenal Preview

Eight days after meeting in London, Arsenal and PSV will meet in the fifth round of the 2022/23 Europa League group-stage at the Philips Stadion in Eindhoven.

The two sides met for the first time in this season’s UEL last week with Arsenal winning the game 1-0 thanks to a super strike by Granit Xhaka.

That win ended the hosts’ unbeaten start to their Europa League campaign and jeopardised their chance of qualifying from this group.

And so, the Dutch giants PSV will welcome the Gunners to Philips Stadion looking to put on a good show and secure all three points that will put them in a good place for qualification ahead of their visit to Bodø/Glimt next week.

A 4-2 loss to Groningen over the weekend was not an ideal situation in preparation for this fixture. Yet, given that they have won each of their last four games in all competitions at home, they will fancy their chances of getting a good result here.

Ruud van Nistelrooy’s men have scored 19 times across their last six games (W4, L2), including a 5-0 Group A triumph over Zürich in their last UEL home game and they will feel that they have the firepower to trouble an Arsenal defence that could not keep Southampton at bay over the weekend.

The Gunners saw their run of eight straight wins ended last weekend by Southampton who held them to a 1-1 draw. That result reduced their lead to two points at the top of the table.

But, in the Europa League, they top their group by five points having won all four opening group games. And so, a win or a draw in this game is all they need to secure the top spot in this group and progress directly to the round of 16.

Mikel Arteta’s side should be confident of securing the top-spot with a game to spare given that they are unbeaten in all but one of their UEL away group games (W11, D2), while they’re also unbeaten in six of their eight away games in the Netherlands (W3, D3, L2).