Arsenal’s coach, Mikel Arteta, hoped to bring a sense of optimism into the second leg of the Champions League semifinal against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday. However, he encouraged his players to use the disappointment from their recent 2-1 loss at home to Bournemouth as motivation.
Declan Rice marked his 100th game for Arsenal with a great goal, putting the team ahead at halftime as they tried to secure their second-place spot in the Premier League. Sadly, the almost complete Gunners team let in two sloppy goals from Dean Huijsen and Evanilson in just eight minutes after the break, ruining Arteta’s dreams of going to Paris with a crucial victory.
Arsenal is down 1-0 to PSG after the first leg at The Emirates. He told the media, “A good result would help our goals for Wednesday. Right now, we’re feeling a mix of anger, frustration, and nerves. We need to channel that energy into an amazing performance in Paris, win the game, and make it to the final.”
Arteta tweaked just two things from last Tuesday’s defeat against PSG, including the full-back Jurriën Timber, who got subbed off late in the first leg.
Timber didn’t play on Saturday, and Arteta wasn’t sure if the Dutch player would be ready for the second leg. When asked about his confidence in Timber playing on Wednesday, Arteta said, “Confident? Not really, since he couldn’t play here, and we’ve got a game in four days.”
Arteta said he had limited options even though Arsenal’s team seemed to be a gamble ahead of their most important match of the season against PSG, who already won the Ligue 1 title and made 10 changes for their 2-1 loss to Strasbourg on Saturday. After challenging the eventual English champions Liverpool for much of the season, Arsenal now finds itself looking over its shoulder, needing six points from their remaining three Premier League fixtures to secure Champions League football for the next season.
Arsenal is set to face Liverpool next Sunday, followed by a challenging match against Newcastle United the subsequent weekend. Arteta stated that the difficulty of these games, Arteta highlighted that that their focus cannot solely be on Europe at this moment. He mentioned, ‘Our place in next season’s Champions League is not guaranteed yet. We haven’t done enough to secure second place, so there is still much work to be done.’
