Arsenal’s season now rests on return of this crucial quality against PSG | OneFootball

Ahead of a night that means everything for Arsenal, Declan Rice duly gave all of the lines you would want for such an occasion. The midfielder talked of how Arsenal “need to have big balls”, adding they are in Paris “to make a statement” and have “full belief” in creating “a special night”.

Rice speaks with an almost religious fervour in such situations, which is probably required.

So far so good, until his manager came in.

“Let’s not do the talking,” Mikel Arteta said. “Let’s do tomorrow on that pitch. So the best, best, best, best version and win the game.”

There is at least “full clarity” to the situation, as the manager put it. Arsenal need to beat Paris Saint-Germain to get into the Champions League final. Arteta played up to how special it could be, as he insisted on describing it as “one of the most beautiful” games in his time at Arsenal, rather than the biggest.

“Huge enthusiasm, huge energy,” he said. “We are a win away from the Champions League final and in the most beautiful city in the world, against a great opponent. It doesn't get much better than that.”

It’s a pointed psychological ploy, especially with the way Arteta repeated that line, given that many outside the club are only too willing to focus on the negatives.

This is now Arsenal’s entire season. If they don’t win, the campaign will be cast as a backwards step, deepening the argument that they are a “nearly team”. Arteta did seem to be almost referencing this himself with his line about not doing “the talking”.

This is the moment to win.

That’s also where it gets difficult.

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Declan Rice has urged Arsenal to step up (PA)

Arsenal are playing away to one of the best teams in Europe, who lead 1-0 from the first leg, after a commanding opening half hour in north London.

That’s one huge challenge at the Parc des Princes. The other is from how they actually go about facing it. Can you really go with everything after a few fixtures of… well, nothingness? Arsenal have been so flat in the Premier League, to the point that they now look like losing second place.

Some around the camp are concerned that the team might be “spent” for the season, especially with the way injuries have forced the same players to play even more. That is the extra cumulative effect of long-term absences.

Arteta would of course insist on banishing such talk ahead of a game like this. It does no one any good, and only serves to further sap energy.

That stance feeds into another, more optimistic, view within the squad. That is that the only reason they have been so flat in the league is because it pales next to the grandeur of the European games. It has been an unusual season in that sense.

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Arsenal lost to Bournemouth on Saturday, their focus clearly on the Champions League (Getty)

Although Champions League football for 2025-26 is not mathematically secured, Arsenal have basically been sure of qualification for months. And while there is a certain pride in finishing as high as possible, that motivation is not going to be the same as getting yourself up for an electrifying Champions League night. They obviously won’t say it, but some players don’t care whether they finish second or fifth so long as they’re back in the competition.

There has been this subconscious sense of conserving energy for Europe. Everyone wants to be raring to go for the big one; for games like this.

That potential to suddenly raise it was illustrated in the last round, against Real Madrid.

But can you really keep doing that? Can that message, of Arsenal’s zealous belief before every round, keep having the same effect?

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Bukayo Saka starred in Arsenal’s win at the Bernabeu in the quarter-finals (Getty)

Because they didn't quite raise it in the first leg against PSG. Arsenal were pinned to their own line in the first 20, and never really got to spread their play. The team almost seemed to be playing within itself.

At the very least, they couldn’t bring the kind of statement performance to fit the stage. The perception only plays into this idea that they will struggle to get it going again.

Arteta’s staff wouldn’t fully agree with that. The Arsenal manager has already spoken with some mystique about there being one specific tactical issue in the first 20 minutes – understood to be around space in midfield – that they quickly solved. It is certainly true that Arsenal never again suffered the same problems. Even the late PSG chances weren’t a consequence of such pressing.

Both Arteta and Luis Enrique described it as a “game of phases”, and the belief from both sides is that any sense of flatness was really because of how “tactical” the game became. It was a battle of coaching.

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Arsenal struggled against PSG’s impressive midfield trio (Getty)

Arteta’s staff are keen to point out that Arsenal had the highest xG out of all four semi-finalists from the first legs – even more than Barcelona. They repeatedly got in on PSG’s right, and Rice specifically mentioned how “the goalkeeper” – Gianluigi Donnarumma – “made some amazing saves”.

These kinds of patterns were not always apparent, although it’s probably true that the impression was very much set by those first 20 minutes from PSG.

Arteta referred to “a lot of learning from the first leg”, and Rice went further and said Arsenal “worked out how we could beat them”.

That is where there’s only another layer to this tie. Arsenal have to win, and go with “everything”, but then the likelihood is that PSG again come at them with exactly that energy in the opening spell. It is what they have done in every single Champions League knockout game so far. The French champions play as if they want to blow you away. Arsenal’s own analytical staff noted that no one on the continent presses like they do.

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Ousmane Dembele’s fourth-minute goal gave PSG a 1-0 lead in the first leg (Getty)

The offset is that PSG tend to tire in the second half, which is why this match might also become more tactical than anticipated. If so, it would also go against the dynamics of these Champions League second legs – particularly some of those at the Parc des Princes.

They tend to get caught up in the whirlwind, the games almost going out of control.

A fair question at this point is who that sort of scenario would serve more.

PSG have suffered some of the worst comebacks in modern Champions League history, but they also have a strong second-leg record under Enrique, having twice come back from home defeats.

Arsenal don’t have that record. They’ve never come back from such situations in any of their European ties. They’ve only come back from five first-leg defeats, full stop.

That’s perhaps one reason why Arteta has dismissed talk of being inspired by history, and implored the team to make their own.

Again, we’ve heard that before. The only line that matters is the scoreline. Arsenal know everything they need to do.