Paris Saint-Germain vs Arsenal Preview

Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal will meet in the second leg of their semi-final tie in Paris as they will look to become one of the two sides that will play in this year’s Champions League final in Munich.

PSG hold a slender one-goal advantage in this tie after winning 1-0 in the first leg at the Emirates. With the Ligue 1 title wrapped up, the Parisians are still on for a historic treble as they prepare for a sixth consecutive European fixture against English opponents (W3, L2), four of which were decided by a one-goal margin.

While that suggests another tight battle is likely, Luis Enrique’s side has won three of their last four home Champions League fixtures (L1). Yet home defeats this term to Atlético Madrid (L 2-1) and Liverpool (L 1-0) show they are fallible. History is firmly on their side here though, as they have advanced from 18 of the last 19 European competition ties when they recorded a first-leg away victory.

Meanwhile, it’s been a few bad days for Arsenal, with their 1-0 loss in the first leg followed by a 2-1 home loss to Bournemouth at the weekend. They must now push themselves for an even bigger task here, given that they’ve never previously progressed in a European knockout tie after losing the first leg at home (L5).

Chasing a first-ever away H2H victory (D2), the Gunners have at least won four consecutive Champions League away fixtures despite conceding exactly once in each. But not since matchday one of the league phase have Mikel Arteta’s team kept a Champions League away clean sheet.

Still that sequence continuing might not be as catastrophic as it may seem, as the Gunners fired in 16 goals of their own across those four successive Champions League road wins.