Arsenal 0 v. PSG 1 - Donarruma's huge saves, and Dembele's role in this PSG side
Arsenal go into the Parc de Franc with a disadvantage to the home side PSG, so what happened?
Well, PSG were dominant for much of the first half, taking as many chances as they needed. This lead to a 4’ opening goal from Ousmane Dembelè (we’ll get to that, and him later on).
After that first 45 minutes, Arsenal woke up and began playing into the game, wheree they created a chance of their own which ended up in a goal, but was disallowed due to a marginal offside. After that Donarruma came up with a hat trick of great saves, to deny Leonardo Trossard on a few occasions.
So how did PSG dominate this Real Madrid worthy Arsenal side?
Dembele’s role in this PSG side under Luis Enrique
Dembele plays norminally as a false-nine, which means that he has as much freedom as he likes, to roam the entirety of the pitch. This must have dazzled Arsenal’s two center-backs, in this case Frenchman William Saliba, and Kiwior.
Dembele was literally everywhere and whereever the ball went, he went. His 1 shot, and 1 shot on target decided the game, and made it so that Arsenal go into the Parc de Franc with a disadvantage.
That shows, that he wasn’t exactly near the box and Arsenal’s centerbacks didn’t seem to want to track him, because it would’ve created much much space in behind for Kvicha Kvartshallia to run into.
From an Arsenal perspective, marking a pretty confined Kylian Mbappe was probably hard, but in this case easier…
Donarruma’s great saves
Donnarumma pulled of so many great saves, there hard to count. He won man of the match, as a goalkeeper which is rare, but actually not so rare with the Allison against PSG and Szczęsny against Benfica, both in the Round of 16. One of the great saves from Donarruma, was denying an effort on goal from Trossard (Arsenal striker).
That was only one of the 5 great saves that he did have throughout the game. Donarruma put on a show, and if he commands the penalty box the way he did at the Emirates, at the Parc de France, then PSG will surely feel (slightly) more secure.
Arsenal’s marginal free-kicks
Arsenal did have the ball in the back of the PSG net, but as you can see below, it was marginally offside, but it was definitely offside, unfortunately for Arsenal.
So is it really worth it, even though it does result in an offside every once an a while? Well yes. Arsenal have 13 goals from set pieces, and that’s absolutely astonishing to be honest. So yes, probably.
Do Arsenal need a real Striker
The simple answer is yes, but looking at this pass map, you can really see why.
Turns out, number 19 (Leonardo Trossard) is what is meant to be the striker. This causes so many problems for Arsenal as they don’t have someone to get on the end of Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli’s crosses. So yes, they (definitely) do need a striker.
What’s next for both sides
Arsenal go into the Parc de Franc with a slight disadvantage, but in this game anything can happen, so let’s wait until Wednesday.