BUDAPEST — In the run-up to the Champions League final you will hear a lot about how Luis Enrique transformed Paris Saint-Germain from a gaggle of Galacticos to the best team in Europe.
Mikel Arteta can make a similar claim. Perhaps not aesthetically, but the Arsenal squad he took over – Nicolas Pepe, Shkodran Mustafi, David Luiz, Matteo Guendouzi –are unrecognisable from the current group.
It does not put them anywhere close to favourites in Budapest- but it is unwise to write Arsenal off, even if Enrique has won 11 of the 12 finals he has contested. You could fairly rudimentarily divide their season into three parts: pre-Christmas, post-New Year and post-defeat to Manchester City on 19 April. Since then Arteta has locked into an approach that won them the Premier League – and which has him “fully convinced” they can push PSG all the way.
Arteta’s four headaches
Who partners Rice?
Arsenal cannot be entirely sure what form Enrique’s midfield will take. It could contain Lucas Beraldo, or he could be deployed at right-back or centre-back. If Martin Zubimendi were to partner Declan Rice, it would be harder to pinpoint where their own creativity was going to come from. Instead Arteta feels likelier to stick with Myles Lewis-Skelly, who has excelled since his first start as a midfielder in the 3-0 win over Fulham earlier this month.
How to stop Kvaratskhelia
Ben White is a loss but his replacement could be better-suited 1v1 against Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who already has 10 goals and six assists in this season’s competition. The question is whether Jurrien Timber starts having been a doubt for the final. Arteta could opt for Cristhian Mosquera instead – but Timber is a risk worth taking if he is fit, despite not featuring since 14 March.
Gyokeres vs Havertz
In the biggest moments, Arteta has at times used Kai Havertz as the focal point of the front three, but there is an obvious argument for why Viktor Gyokeres could be best utilised against PSG. Gabriel Martinelli is the only Arsenal player with more goals in Europe this season and all of the Brazilian’s came in the league phase.
One of Arsenal’s most effective strategies against Atletico Madrid was to use David Raya to get the ball up quickly to Gyokeres, who ran 6.5 miles in the semi-final second leg. Marquinhos is also liable to follow the striker when he roams into the wide areas and drops into a deeper role, creating more space to be exploited by Martin Odegaard.
The left
At left-back there is the more adventurous option in Riccardo Calafiori over Piero Hincapie, combining with either Eberechi Eze or Leandro Trossard. Eze impressed sufficiently during Odegaard’s recent absence that Arteta chose to keep deploying them both, but Trossard is a more likely starter, with Eze on for the final half-hour. The five teams who beat PSG in Ligue 1 did so because for the most part, they were able to contain Ousmane Dembele – not easy to do with PSG’s notorious pressing.
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