PSG loses to Arsenal and is not reassured

A setback for PSG. Undefeated since the start of the season, without however convincing in the game, the Parisians showed their current limits for their first real test, against Arsenal, Tuesday October 1. Luis Enrique’s men did not convert their favorable ball possession into a goal and lost 2-0 with goals from Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka on which Gianluigi Donnarumma is not exempt from all criticism.

Pressed by Arsenal in their camp from the start of the match, PSG were quickly put in danger by the Gunners. The sanction came from Kai Havertz, left alone by Willian Pacho to take a cross from Leandro Trossard, on which Gianluigi Donnarumma misjudged the trajectory of the ball and missed his exit (20th). The Parisian reaction was only too timid and the Rouge et Bleu were dominated in all areas of the game in the first half. They even returned to the locker room trailing by two goals, after a free kick from Bukayo Saka (35th), on which PSG’s Italian goalkeeper was once again not unstoppable.

Too messy in their passing, with slow transitions, too many touches of the ball and few sharp calls, the Parisians did not succeed in destabilizing the Arsenal defense. There was certainly a little improvement after the hour mark, with the entries of Fabian Ruiz and Randal Kolo Muani, but these highlights were not rewarded, notably with the post found by Joao Neves (66th). A hand from Riccardo Calafiori, in his area, would also have deserved to be reviewed by the referee if his VAR assistants had called it (78th).

The Gunners therefore won against a pale Parisian team which put them in too little danger and which seemed far from the level of the European leaders. To aim for the top 8 qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League, Luis Enrique’s men will have to pull themselves together and show a better face from their next European meeting against PSV Eindhoven, on October 22.