Paris Saint Germain manager Luis Enrique has admitted that Arsenal are one of the best sides in the world ahead of their clash in the UEFA Champions League tonight. Both sides are currently unbeaten in all competitions going into tonight’s game, and there is a shared mutual respect between the two Spanish bosses as Mikel Arteta claimed to have a “huge respect” for the PSG boss ahead of their clash tonight. Only one manager can come away with the victory in Arsenal Vs PSG tonight, so who exactly will it be?
Arsenal Vs Paris Saint Germain: Tactical Preview
Luis Enrique’s Tactics
Enrique’s side are currently unbeaten in the league, with five wins from six, scoring 20 goals in just six games, making them one of the best attacking sides in all of Europe. Obviously, with Enrique a treble-winning coach, it’s no surprise that PSG has succeeded under the Spanish manager. However, what’s interesting about the Parisian side’s recent success is their approach to play.
According to FBref, PSG are a possession-based side, ranking top in all of Ligue 1 for average possession per match with 68.0%, but the manner in which the French side utilise possession is what makes them such a threat. Enrique utilises a style of play known as possession suffocation. What this means is that the Parisian side like to dominate the ball in central areas, and press intensely when they lose the ball, suffocating the opponent.
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With this style of play in mind, the PSG head coach likes to build up with a 3-1-3-3 buildup system, which means at the base he forms a back three, while a midfielder, like we can see below, sits in front of the defence in order to recycle possession. The midfielder who plays this role is vital to the buildup, as they operate as the anchor between the defence and the midfield.
This is why Vitinha is such a key player for Enrique’s style of play. We can see that the Ballon D’or nominee has a high volume of passes due to this role, ranking in the upper 90th percentile for Progressive Passes, Passes Completed and Passes Attempted. However, with recent reports indicating that the Portuguese midfielder could be benched for this tie, the first advantage goes to Mikel Arteta’s side with PSG missing one of the key players to their system.
Inverted Fullbacks
Further up the pitch, ahead of the position that Vitinha usually occupies, the PSG head coach utilises one his fullbacks in order to occupy the midfield, making it a central three with either Hakimi or Lucas Beraldo alongside Joao Neves and Warren Zaire-Emery. This is in order to overload the midfield. This will make the clash between Arsenal and PSG’s midfield one of the key duels of the match, with Arsenal likely to go for a double pivot of Rice and Partey in order to combat Enrique’s midfield system.
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However, the real battle will be the one between Declan Rice and whoever is operating in the Vitinha role of midfield in front of the defence. With this player being the most crucial role in PSG’s buildup system, Arteta will almost definitely want to close them down to stop the attack at the source.
The Main Threat
Finally, in attack, PSG’s main threat comes from one area in particular, as the Paris-based side like to build up through the middle, they also like to spread the play to the wingers when they do manage to play through the opposition’s midfield. Taking a look at this passage of play here, you can see PSG’s wingers, Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembele are situated as close to the touchline as physically possible because Enrique likes to place his wingers in one vs one situation.
With recent reports indicating that Dembele is set to miss the game due to disciplinary reasons, PSG’s main outlet in attack will most definitely be Barcola. The French youngster has already had a fantastic start to the season, scoring five in five operating as a left winger. Jurrian Timber, who is likely to start at right-back for Arsenal tonight, will have his work cut out for him in order to isolate the threat. The French youngster has already proven himself a threat in these kind of situations, ranking in the upper 90th percentile for goals created through take-ons.
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While the two Spanish managers certainly have a lot of respect for each other, tonight we can expect respect to go out of the window in a clash that is most certainly going to be dominated by fouls and cards. Tonight’s game is looking set to be the match of the week, and not one that fans are going to want to miss.
