This victory against Paris Saint-Germain followed a script that Arsenal fans have already read.
A young team, full of technically gifted players, mastered by a team overflowing with physicality and sense.
The difference was that it was Arsenal putting in a mature, professional performance instead of being the target of it.
Sometimes, towards the end of Arsène Wenger’s reign, and even last year, when the Gunners returned to the Champions League after six years of absence, they could be accused of being harassed by the European big names.
But not now, as Arsenal’s win over PSG on Tuesday night underlined just how much they have grown at this level since Bayern Munich knocked them out in the quarter-finals last season.
“I think they wanted to prove tonight, against a top team at home, that we can be ourselves and we can also be very dominant,” Mikel Arteta said. “We have to continue to do this.
“I think it builds confidence and belief that we can compete with any team at this level. I think we showed a lot of maturity in the way we played and we put our stamp on how we want to behave in Europe against the best 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 reached the Champions League final in 2020 and have since reached two semi-finals.
Since then the project has taken a turn, with the focus now being on recruiting youngsters to become stars, and for only the third time they have started a Champions League match with three players under the age of 21 .
The average age of their front three and midfield trio was 21, and they were simply monstrous by Arsenal when it came to physical battle.
Arteta’s team was superior in almost every defensive parameter. They won more tackles, made more clearances, made more interceptions and made more ball recoveries.
It was a ruthless example of how Arsenal have transformed under Arteta into, in the words of PSG boss Luis Enrique, “the best team in Europe without the ball”.
A lot of this has to do with Arsenal’s organization and the way they press, but also the size of their players.
Alongside the PSG youngsters, they looked like giants and, in all honesty, they were. Arteta started seven players measuring 6 feet or taller, and he added two more in the second half by bringing on Jakub Kiwior and Mikel Merino.
PSG simply couldn’t compete with this level of physicality, especially in attack, with Gabriel and William Saliba totally dominant in defense.
They helped take Arsenal’s clean sheet total in 2024 to 17 from 32 games, which is the most of any Premier League team. This year, among the five major European championships, only Real Madrid has retained more.
“Our opponents were much better in terms of intensity and they won all the duels,” admitted Enrique. “We knew from the first minute that they were going to press us aggressively. They did it very well and we couldn’t handle that kind of pressure.
With this plan, Arsenal looks to be a real force in Europe this year
With this plan, Arsenal look to be a real force in Europe this year – especially if they can learn from last season.
In their quarter-final against Bayern Munich, they failed to take advantage of their early dominance in the first leg and let the German team get away with it.
There was none of that on Tuesday night and Arsenal were merciless 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 faced 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 handled that very well, with a lot of personality,” he said. Arteta said.
“The team has to improve and to improve sometimes you have to learn from things that you don’t like so much and I’m really happy with what we did.”