How Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka goals earned Arsenal a ...

We’ve heard from the players and the head coaches, but how did the Arsenal fans view it on our Discuss page? Here are a couple of choice cuts:

???? Luco O: “The passing stats really drive home how we have pivoted from a ball-dominant team to a countering team without Odegaard. So impressive how they’ve installed this system and style on the fly, with a game every three days and it looks immense. Great coaching on show there.

???? Deepak B: “Maybe Merino needs time to bed in but I thought we looked better for the first 65 mins with Partey, than the last 25 mins with Merino.

???? Matthew C: “Calafiori and Timber change the team... I love Benny White but he will have a lot to do to earn his place back over Timber.”

As for Paris Saint-Germain boss Luis Enrique, there was an air of resignation in his summing up of those 90 minutes against Arsenal. Here he is, speaking to Amazon Prime:

???? “My feeling is a sad, bad feeling but I have to say we couldn’t compete at the level they did and they deserved to win the match.

“They pressed us high for the whole first half, got two goals and after that, they defend in a different way.

“The intensity of their team, how they play on the ball and off the ball, they are at the high level, top level. No doubt in that. It wasn’t a surprise. We knew the standards were there.”

Mikel Arteta was also asked about the impact Kai Havertz has had on his Arsenal team in recent weeks. Here’s what he told Amazon Prime Video:

???? “He’s unbelievable. His football brain, the way he understands space and timing, the way he brings people together, he just guides the team.

“His work ethic is incredible and now he’s a real threat every time he’s around the box. He’s one of our main players at the moment.”

Lots has been said about Kai Havertz and the role he holds in this Arsenal XI, but his touch map from tonight’s win over PSG shows that he is still some way from being a traditional No 9.

That is a tight grouping of touches on the right, where Arsenal concentrated their attacks — and those attacks were a regular threat to PSG, despite them being infrequent.

Mikel Arteta was understandably happy with the result, as the Arsenal head coach spoke to Amazon Prime after the match:

???? “(I’m) really happy. Obviously we played a big opponent, a team that has a lot of personality and that is difficult to deal with, especially when you don’t have the ball.

“We were very dominant in the first half, we created a lot of issues and the second half was a different story.”

PSG have not enjoyed their trips across the English Channel in the last few years.

Since winning against Manchester United at Old Trafford in December 2020, they have lost all four of their Champions League matches in England.

Manchester City won two of them with Arsenal and Newcastle taking the others.

This is worth a bit of your time. It’s our match dashboard and makes for really interesting viewing, in terms of how the two sides tactically tackled the game.

The shot maps — including the quality of each Arsenal chance — and the passing networks that show how relatively lop-sided Arsenal’s possession was — are fun to pore over.

And if you’re unsure what all of this is trying to tell you, then just head into the link below for a full breakdown on the analytics included.

GO FURTHER

Introducing The Athletic’s match dashboard: Our detailed snapshot of how a game unfolds

Attacking talent will always catch the eye, but Arsenal’s defenders (and goalkeeper) are earning plenty of plaudits.

This evening’s clean sheet was their 17th of 2024 in just 32 games across all competition.

It is the most of any Premier League side and second in Europe’s big-five leagues only to Real Madrid (18).

It was another strong showing from Bukayo Saka on the grandest stage. And another goal from a set piece; something tonight’s Arsenal captain was asked about after the game on Amazon Prime.

???? “I don’t want to give too much information, but we do work a lot. Most days in training we do a lot of set pieces. So for me and for the boys, it’s not a coincidence that we’re scoring (from them) every game.

“In the first half, we were very dominant and we could’ve scored more goals. Second half, they came out and we had to defend a bit more.

“But overall, I felt we deserved the win.”

Arsenal did that without the ball and in an extremely efficient way — which was perhaps most impressive of all, on their home return to the Champions League. Here are the full-time numbers…

FT: Arsenal 2-0 Paris Saint-Germain

That efficiency from Arsenal was most impressive tonight. It was a Champions League win, if that makes sense. Their first goal was high quality, while the second one was perhaps a tad lucky. But that was all it took to put the game out of the reach of PSG.

Another impressive Kai Havertz performance was capped with a first-half goal and the player of the match award.

And the Arsenal forward has just been speaking to Amazon Prime:

???? “We played very well, especially in the first half. We were sometimes a bit too passive in the second half but it was a great game, a good result for us and three points.

“It’s great to play here, I love the stadium, I love the fans. I’m so thankful to be here and to play with this team.”

As Felipe Cardenas has said, another strong showing from Riccardo Calafiori tonight.

Mikel Arteta will be happy with his performance and very, very happy with the result.

Another big test ticked off with relative ease.

No shocks in the late games in the Champions League this evening.

Arsenal, Barcelona, Dortmund, Inter and Manchester City have all come through unscathed while Bayer Leverkusen battled to yet another victory.

Here are the full-time scores:

As for PSG, so much will depend on the patience of those at the club. If they are happy to take the learnings of a side that should still make it through the league phase but may be limited beyond that, then you would like to think they will benefit from that in the long run.

But the long run isn’t often at the forefront of the thinking at a football club.

This wasn’t a great showing from them despite some sporadic late pressure — although their supporters were incredible, and long may that continue.

That was supremely comfortable for Arsenal, barely troubled against a PSG side that of course is starting off on a different path.

But the control, efficiency and low gearing of that performance suggests there is a lot still in the tank and there’s no reason why they can’t at least hope to go deep in this competition.

They’ll just need to make sure they keep on top of their opposition at this level each week but in truth, you imagine they would have found another gear tonight had they needed to.

Riccardo Calafiori really is a throwback defender and it’s not just his 90s era hair.

There’s little that’s “sexy” about his play but he’s almost always well-positioned and his task is simple: defend, win duels, clear the ball.

Another strong performance from the Italian.

FT: Arsenal 2-0 Paris Saint-Germain

AND THERE WE ARE. The final whistle goes and Arsenal have their first win in this year’s Champions League.

It’s a routine win at that too, with both goals coming in the first half and PSG looking well short of achieving anything except their first defeat of the season in all competitions.

Havertz and Saka get the goals. For Arsenal, it’s now four points from two games.

90+2' Arsenal 2-0 Paris Saint-Germain

It’s Lewis-Skelly time. The youngster is on for his third senior appearance, with captain Bukayo Saka getting the final minutes off.

That’s kind of Mikel Arteta.