Arsenal: How ruthless Gunners bullied PSG as aggressive Mikel Arteta approach pays off

This win over Paris Saint-Germain followed a script that Arsenal fans have read before.

A young team, full of technically-gifted players, overpowered by a side brimming with physicality and nous.

The difference was that it was Arsenal putting in the matured and professional performance instead of being on the receiving end of it.

At times towards the end of Arsene Wenger’s reign, and even last year when the Gunners returned to the Champions League after a six-year absence, they could be accused of being bullied by Europe’s big guns.

But not now as Arsenal’s win over PSG on Tuesday night underlined how much they have grown at this level since Bayern Munich dumped them out at the quarter-final stage last season.

“I think they wanted to prove a point tonight, against a top team at home that we can be ourselves and we can be very dominant as well,” said Mikel Arteta. “We have to continue to do that.

“I think it raises the confidence and the belief that we can compete with any team at that level. I think we showed a lot of maturity in the way we played and we put our stamp in the way we want to behave in Europe against top teams, and I really like that.”

This was not the PSG side of Kylian Mbappe, or even Lionel Messi or Neymar, but their pedigree cannot be overlooked. They made the Champions League final in 2020 and have since reached two semi-finals.

The project has taken a turn since then, with the focus now on signing youngsters to develop into stars, and for just the third time they started a Champions League game with three players under the age of 21.

The average age of their front three and midfield trio was 21, and they were quite simply monstered by Arsenal when it came to the physical battle.

Arteta’s side were superior in just about every defensive metric. They won more tackles, made more clearances, managed more interceptions and completed more ball recoveries.

It was a ruthless example of how Arsenal have morphed under Arteta into, in PSG boss Luis Enrique’s words, “the best team in Europe without the ball”.

A large part of that is down to Arsenal’s organisation and the way they press, but it is also down to the sheer size of their players.

Next to PSG’s young side, they looked like giants and, in fairness, they were. Arteta started seven players who were 6ft or taller, and he added two more in the second half by bringing on Jakub Kiwior and Mikel Merino.

PSG simply could not compete with that level of physicality, especially in attack, with Gabriel and William Saliba utterly dominant in defence.

They helped take Arsenal’s tally of clean sheets in 2024 to 17 from 32 games, which is the most of any Premier League side. Across Europe’s big-five leagues this year, only Real Madrid have kept more.

“Our opponents were much better in terms of intensity and they won every duel,” Enrique admitted. “We knew from the first minute they were going to press us with aggression. They did it very well and we could not handle that kind of pressure.”

With this blueprint, Arsenal look like they will be a real force in Europe this year - especially if they can learn lessons from last season.

In their quarter-final tie against Bayern Munich, they did not take advantage of their dominance early in the first leg and let the German side off the hook.

There was none of that on Tuesday night and Arsenal were ruthless in front of goal. They had six shots to PSG’s 10, but scored twice thanks to goals from Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka.

“We played one of the best teams in the world, they are super dominant in the league, they have so much quality, understanding and tactical options, and we dealt with it really well, with a lot of personality,” said Arteta.

“The team needs to improve and to improve you need to learn sometimes from things that you don’t like so much and I’m really happy with what we’ve done.”