Mikel Arteta sends challenge to Arsenal's Champions League last 16 opponent | OneFootball

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta heaped praise on the club's upcoming Champions League opponents PSV Eindhoven while warning that his side "will be ready" for the knockout tie.

The Gunners automatically qualified for the round of 16 by finishing third in the inaugural league phase table, five points and 11 places better off than PSV. Peter Bosz's free-scoring outfit did defeat Liverpool on the continent this season and surprisingly overturned a first-leg deficit to knock Juventus out of the play-offs.

Arteta was quick to stress the Dutch side's strengths. "We've played against them, they are a really good team," he told assembled media shortly after Friday's draw was made. "We have experienced it and it will be really difficult. We know what we are facing. When you are at this stage every team is really, really good."

However, the Arsenal boss concluded: "When the time comes we will be ready for it."

The north London outfit were drawn against PSV in the group stage of last season's Champions League. A heavily rotated side were held to a 1-1 draw in Eindhoven after qualification to the knockout round had already been secured. When the two sides faced off at the Emirates in September 2023, with everything to play for at the start of the group stage, Arsenal romped to a 4-0 win.

Peter Bosz (left) and Mikel Arteta came up against one another twice last season / ANP/GettyImages

Bukayo Saka rattled in the opening goal of that comfortable victory but is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury. Gabriel Martinelli is also skulking on the sidelines with a muscular issue of his own. Recent reports suggested that both wingers would not be available until April, missing each leg of the last-16 tie which are scheduled for 4-5 and 11-12 March.

Arteta insisted that he was unsure of whether either player would feature in this round of the competition, explaining: "They are progressing really well. Gabby is a bit ahead of Bukayo but we will have to see how the boys are feeling and what we are prepared to do."

After getting thumped by the Gunners at the Emirates, PSV manager Peter Bosz admitted that he and his coaching staff poured over the video of that tie and changed their approach going forward. "I learned a lot from Arsenal," Bosz told The Athletic later that year.

"Me and my coaches studied them. What is it that they do differently to us? The answer is that they are outstanding in the opposition box but also their own. They get a lot of players behind the ball as soon as possible. They do it with ten or 11 but we only did it with six or seven and then the distances are bigger. It's the transition.

"We showed the players and, in the games after, we started doing it with ten or 11 like Arsenal, staying compact in attack and defence."

By employing Arteta's defensive tactics, PSV won last season's Dutch top-flight title, although they currently trail Ajax in this season's standings.