Attack and defense? Beauty vs beast? Art and science?
Even if that seems too simplistic, champions league final between paris saint germain and arsenal That pretty much sums up the clash of styles that will be on display at the Puskas Arena on Saturday. budapest.
One of them is PSG, led by Luis Enrique. He is the top scorer in this season’s Champions League with 44 goals. This is an average of more than 3 goals per game. Defeated Inter Milan 5-0 Last year’s title match resulted in the biggest final victory in the tournament’s 70-year history.
The other is Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal. newly crowned champion of england They have the meanest defense in the Champions League, the most suffocating off-the-ball set-up, and the most efficient and advanced system in the Champions League. set piece threat around it.
Unstoppable force and immovable object?
Something like that.
If there’s anyone who has the means to stop PSG from becoming only the second team in the Champions League era to hold the title, it’s undoubtedly Arteta.
Here’s why:
“The best team” defensively
There is no doubt about Luis Enrique.
“They are the best defensive team in Europe and have been for the last few years,” the PSG manager said of Arsenal.
Statistics back this up.
Arsenal have kept nine clean sheets in the Champions League this season, three more than any other team, and have conceded just six goals in 14 games. Two of those goals came in the final game, when Arsenal had already qualified, in a desperate battle against Kairat Almaty. PSG, on the other hand, conceded 22 goals.
In the Premier League, Arsenal were shutout in exactly half of their 38 games during their title-winning campaign, conceding just 27 goals and conceding the fewest with eight goals. With one round remaining and the title confirmed, Arsenal played 37 games, conceding less than one shot on target in 13 of them.
Arteta usually deploys a back four consisting of four centre-backs. This tactic was first used in English football by his mentor Josep Guardiola, and involves a screen midfielder in front of him, either Declan Rice or Martin Zvimendi.
If they overcome all this, perhaps David Raya, the best goalkeeper in the Premier League this season, will save the team.
set piece threat
In his six-and-a-half years at Arsenal, Arteta has seen the direction in which English football is heading, with the dominance of Manchester City, the hectic schedule due to increased and expanded competitions, and the depth of depth in the Premier League with record broadcast revenues, and the small gains realized will give Arsenal an even greater advantage than before.
This is not the case, as is the case with Set piece supremacyThey received a boost in 2021 with the appointment of Nicola Jobar as set-piece coach.
This season, Arsenal have scored 25 of their 71 goals from dead-ball situations, more than anyone else, as they en route to their first Premier League title since 2004.
This is according to competition statistics provider Opta, who say Arsenal have scored 19 goals from corners, a Premier League record for a single season.
Arsenal have a big team with four impressive defenders and a strong No. 9 in either Viktor Gokeres or Kai Havertz, and sharp set-piece play from Rice and Bukayo Saka.
I wouldn’t be surprised if that was Arsenal’s best route to goal on Saturday.
control without the ball
Arsenal could be a tough watch. Indeed, following the possession-based style of Guardiola’s Man City and the heavy-metal approach of Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, Arteta’s game plan is sometimes overwhelmingly inferior to mid-table sides in the Premier League.
It still works.
More than any team in England or Europe, Arsenal seem to be in control of the game without the ball.
Let’s look at this statistic. This season the Gunners became the first team in the 34-year history of the Premier League to finish a season without giving away a penalty or receiving a red card.
In the Champions League, Arsenal did not receive a single yellow card in either the quarter-finals or the semi-finals.
“We know their ability to play without the ball. They are the best team in the world in that respect,” Luis Enrique said. “And when they have the ball, they can score a lot of goals. It’s an attractive combination.”
play off pressure
It sounds strange to say about a club that has not played in a Champions League final for 20 years, but Arsenal go into European football’s biggest club competition with no pressure.
Winning the Premier League for the first time since 2004 lifted the burden of high expectations from players who had been plagued by near-misses in recent seasons, finishing runners-up in the Premier League three years in a row, losing in last season’s Champions League semi-finals and then losing in the English League Cup final in March.
“We are champions and that brings a lot of confidence and a different kind of presence and energy,” Arteta said.
“We have already talked about what we have to do in Budapest and how to use the incredible energy that we all have for the final.”
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