PSG and Arsenal can be framed as an attack-versus-defence matchup, but the contrast is not absolute. PSG have higher possession and better pass completion, and they have scored more goals overall. Arsenal have conceded fewer goals, win more aerial duels, and have a record that suggests they can defend effectively. The semi-final pattern from the previous season showed PSG and Arsenal chasing different game states rather than sticking to fixed roles. Arsenal’s best scoring chances likely come from corners and free-kicks. The main risk for Arsenal is PSG’s transition play, especially against opponents who sit deep, so Arsenal must prevent key attackers from getting space to run at defenders.
"On the one hand, the stats look stark. In the Champions League this season, Paris Saint-Germain have averaged 63.4% possession, higher than anybody apart from Barcelona; Arsenal's figure is 52.6%, the 11th-highest of the 36 sides who made the league stage. PSG's pass completion has been 89.3% to Arsenal's 85.7% (third-highest to 14th-highest). PSG have scored 44 goals to Arsenal's 29. But on the flip side, Arsenal have conceded six goals to PSG's 22 and won 13.4 aerial duels per game to PSG's 9.4 (sixth-highest to 29th-highest)."
"The implication from those figures would seem to be that PSG will boss possession, that Arsenal will sit deep and look to go long. And perhaps there may be an element of that, although that was not how either leg of the semi-final between the teams last season played out: PSG shaded possession at the Emirates and Arsenal at the Parc des Princes as they chased the game."
"Although PSG have scored more goals from non-penalty set plays than Arsenal in the Champions League this season (eight to five), it probably is reasonable to assume that corners and free-kicks offer Arsenal's best chance of a goal. But the biggest danger to Arsenal is probably a counterattack. Most opponents sit deep against PSG, especially in Ligue 1, but the evidence of PSG's wins over Chelsea, Liverpool and Bayern Munich is that they are lethal in transition."
Read at www.theguardian.com
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