'Mikel Arteta will need to rely on key Arsenal duo in crunch PSG second leg'

After a very soft, but inevitable, free-kick had been awarded against him late in the first half, Bukayo Saka belted the ball into the side-netting in frustration.

Ludicrously, under the regulations that have been in place for some time, he was given an obligatory yellow card. Thankfully, disciplinary records were wiped ahead of the last four games and another yellow in Paris would not keep him out of the final in Munich on May 31.

And make no mistake, it is a date this Arsenal team can make. It is a date Bukayo Saka can make. This is a PSG team that, for all its bristling flamboyance, is vulnerable to Saka’s brilliance. This is a PSG team that is good but vulnerable, full stop.

Saka - who, on several occasions, was not just double-marked but triple-marked - might not have had his most sparkling game but he will still be the key to Arsenal winning this tie over two legs. But what Arsenal might end up regretting is a bout of early-game stage-fright.

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In the minutes building up to kick-off, the talking head of Mikel Arteta appeared on a giant screen at the Emirates, essentially imploring fans to get behind the team. “I need you, I need the person next to you. I want you to play every single ball with us.”

If only someone had played the ball that Ousmane Dembele was allowed the freedom of the pitch to collect when starting the move that led to his early-doors opener for PSG, Arteta would not be facing such a mountainous challenge in the second leg in Paris next Wednesday.

There is, of course, no harm in a manager delivering a call-to-arms to the crowd. But the supporters knew the magnitude of this game, they created a special atmosphere at the Emirates for the Real Madrid game and did not need persuading to do likewise against the French champions. The Emirates was electric.

But on the playing side, there is always a balance. A balance between being pumped-up and too pumped-up, between knowing it is a special occasion and treating it as another match. And Arteta had to strike a familiar managerial balance between negating opposition strengths and utilising your own.

It was a balance he did not get right in the early stages. Perhaps wary of PSG’s potency on the counter-attack, his team sat too deep, simple as that. How else do you account for the 26 passes that preceded Dembele’s shinned strike from the edge of the box that eluded David Raya?

Yes, they were missing the suspended Thomas Partey but there was a lack of early high-pressing aggression that allowed PSG the luxury of time to find their feet, their very quick feet. Towards the end of the first half and after the break, that aggression showed its face and the threat from PSG lessened considerably.

In addition to sending over a sweet set-piece that was headed home by a marginally offside Mikel Merino, Declan Rice began to make one or two familiar driving runs against a wearying opposition. And he will also be key in the second leg. In Paris, it will be a night for Arsenal’s big-name players to step up to the plate.

And there is no reason to think Saka and Rice will not be up to the job.

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