Champions League
2025-04-29 - Arsenal vs Paris Saint-Germain
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: UEFA Champions League Semi Final First Leg
Tuesday 29th April 2025 - Kick Off 8pm
This game is live on TV
Arsenal
The English Premier League title race officially ended on Sunday when Liverpool beat Tottenham Hotspur, but in reality it had been a race long run. Mikel Arteta's Arsenal were not able to find the consistency needed to challenge Liverpool as injuries mounted up, but the squad is looking about as healthy as can be hoped with all attention on trying to win the Champions League for the first time.
Not many would have given Arsenal a real chance of upsetting Real Madrid in the Champions League Quarter Final, but the 5-1 win on aggregate will give the team a huge amount of confidence. Winning both Legs means Arsenal have won 3 of their 4 Knock Out ties in this competition this season, while they have won 5 of 6 home Champions League fixtures played since September.
Arsenal fans will bemoan the amount of draws that the team have produced in the Premier League, but the 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace has extended the unbeaten run to 12 games in all competitions. The side had won 3 in a row at home, but The Gunners have since drawn 2 in a row here.
Thomas Partey will serve a one game suspension, while the likes of Jorginho and Riccardo Calafiori are expected to miss out.
Paris Saint-Germain
The French title has been won again, but Luis Enrique knows his time with Paris Saint-Germain will only feel like a huge success if he can guide the club to Champions League success. The Spaniard has been given a lot of credit for the improvement made by his team as the season has developed and many believe Paris Saint-Germain should be the favourites to become the second French club to win the top UEFA prize.
The side are going to take aim at beating a third straight English Premier League club in the Knock Out Rounds of the Champions League having seen off Liverpool and Aston Villa previously. However, Paris Saint-Germain have earned a win at Anfield and were leading 0-2 at Villa Park before the capitulation in the 3-2 defeat to Aston Villa.
Paris Saint-Germain have won 1 of their last 4 games in all competitions since beating Aston Villa 3-1 at home in the Champions League Quarter Final First Leg. The side had won 13 away games in succession in all competitions, but Paris Saint-Germain have now lost at Villa Park and drawn at Nantes in the last 2 away games played.
A strong, healthy Paris Saint-Germain squad will travel to London for this big game.
Head to Head
This is not the first time Arsenal will be hosting Paris Saint-Germain this season- in the new League Phase of the competition, Arsenal were 2-0 winners over PSG here.
That fixture was the first meeting between the clubs since the 2016/17 Champions League Group Stage when both games ended in draws.
Arsenal are unbeaten in 3 at home against Paris Saint-Germain and have won twice in that run.
Prediction
There is no doubting how much the tension will increase as we reach the Champions League Semi Final- both Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain have earned upsets in the Knock Out Rounds already and both clubs are desperate to join the list of European Champions.
Both have reached the Final before, but it is Paris Saint-Germain who have done that much more recently.
However, there has been a change in approach used by the club as they move past the 'Galactico' era and instead looking to become more than the sum of their parts. Having a manager like Luis Enrique really helps with his ability to inspire the talented members of his team to add plenty of hard work and willingness to run instead of merely relying on their skills.
This has been a key to the improvement made in terms of results and the squad has developed really well under Luis Enrique.
They have beaten Manchester City, Liverpool and Aston Villa this season and Paris Saint-Germain have experienced playing in this Stadium. One concern has to be that they have lost on 2 of their 3 visits to England this season, including a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal here, but the Paris Saint-Germain squad looks much better in April than they were when playing in North London in the League Phase.
Arsenal have been very strong at the Emirates Stadium in the Champions League and the preparation time has to be a bonus at this time of the season. Losing Thomas Partey to suspension is a blow, especially when it comes to controlling the transition football played by Paris Saint-Germain, but Arsenal have the likes of Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli in forward areas to make up for the absence of a pure number nine.
The Gunners have shown they can create chances at home and they should be able to do that against a Paris team that continue to show some vulnerabilities at the back. Mikel Arteta has to take a huge amount of encouragement from how Aston Villa were able to put Paris Saint-Germain under real pressure in the Champions League Quarter Final Second Leg and the home team will be looking to have some kind of lead to protect next week in the French capital.
Containing Paris Saint-Germain feels a little too much to ask with the stronger balance that the French Champions have compared with even a quality team like Real Madrid. The counter attack is where Paris Saint-Germain have been particularly dangerous and they should offer much more of a threat in this Semi Final First Leg compared with the League Phase clash and the feeling is that this is going to be a fixture that ends with at least three goals shared out on the night.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Arsenal 2-1 Paris Saint-Germain
