Paris Saint-Germain traveled to the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal in the Champions League. The new league phase has been a difficult road for PSG and a visit to last season’s Premier League runners-up would result in the Ligue 1 title holders facing their first defeat of the season. Goals from Kai Haverts and Bukayo Saka in the first half would be enough for the London side to record all three points.
Donnarumma’s European nightmare continues
Two goals, two errors from set pieces from Gianluigi Donnarumma on his return to the first team after missing the last three matches due to injury. Arsenal are exceptional at set pieces and need no help scoring goals in these situations, but the hosts, regardless, have been given a helping hand from the incapacity of the Italian goalkeeper to remain calm under pressure. The second goal, a Bukayo Saka free kick that crept across the box, looked particularly egregious from Donnarumma. The goalkeeper felt the air as he watched the ball sail past him and bounce into the back of the net.
These high-profile errors on European nights have been a constant flaw in Donnarumma’s game, to the point where costly errors in the Champions League have become a meme. It’s hard not to ignore the fact that PSG entered the transfer market this summer to add additional competition to the goalkeeping rotation with the signing of Russian international Matvei Safanov. The Krasnodar arrival will likely hope to get a chance to impress again in Donnarumma’s place in the coming weeks.
Absence of Dembélé: One point won and three points lost
Ousmane Dembélé’s absence was one of the biggest stories ahead of this match. The right winger was reportedly left out of the squad that traveled to London following a heated argument with manager Luis Enrique. However, the head coach had vigorously denied the claim during his pre-match press conference on Monday. Instead, Luis Enrique clearly stated: “I don’t want to make it a soap opera… The question concerns the player’s obligations towards the team, it is not a problem between player and manager..”
It has been made clear that no one is above the team, but were potential points lost because the France international was not present? This was always going to be a significant loss for The Parisians as Dembélé had featured in the club’s previous seven fixtures this season, where he showed creativity by recording four goals and four assists. At times the visitors had the opportunity to attack on a quick counter-attack, but it was clear that they lacked Dembélé’s pace and ability to spot a pass and those moments would quickly fizzle out. Désiré Doué, the summer recruit from Stade Rennais, started in his place and struggled to leave an imprint on the match.
Lee Kang-in consolidates his role as PSG’s new number nine
Despite injury problems piling up in the number nine role with Gonçalo Ramos and Marco Asensio both unavailable, Luis Enrique remains unconvinced by Randal Kolo Munani. The club spent €90 million to bring the France international to the capital last summer, but this season the striker has mainly been used in his limited minutes off the bench as a winger. Luis Enrique is believed to be unconvinced by his technical abilities and instead handed the striking role to Lee Kang-in.
In the second half, the South Korean international had flashes of danger. A twisted shot from distance looked difficult to deal with, but was ultimately dealt with by former Brentford man David Raya. On a night where very few PSG players impressed, it seemed Lee did enough to keep Luis Enrique’s faith in a striker-less project.
