Champions League
2025-05-07 - Paris Saint-Germain vs Arsenal
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: UEFA Champions League Semi Final Second Leg
Wednesday 7th May 2025 - Kick Off 8pm
This game is live on TV
Paris Saint-Germain
As expected, Paris Saint-Germain have finished as Champions of France and that has meant the full attention of the club and manager Luis Enrique is on the Champions League. The country that helped create the European Cup has had little success in the top competition in the UEFA Confederation and Paris Saint-Germain are looking to become just the second French club to become European Champions and hopefully without the controversy attached to Marseille from the early 1990s.
The money invested in Paris Saint-Germain has only been rewarded with a single appearance in the Champions League Final and they were beaten by Bayern Munich in the tournament run just after the Covid pandemic to conclude the 2019/20 season. It has been a struggle since then, but a shift in club culture and the appointment of Luis Enrique has changed things and Paris Saint-Germain are favourites to reach the Final in Munich after winning 0-1 in North London last week. The side have won 3 of their last 4 home Champions League games, but the exception is a 0-1 defeat to Liverpool.
Paris Saint-Germain have failed to win any of their last 3 French League games and were beaten 2-1 at Strasbourg this past weekend. They had won 4 in a row at home following the defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League Last 16 First Leg, but that run was ended when Paris Saint-Germain were beaten here by Nice at the end of April.
Wholesale changes were made to the starting eleven for the defeat at Strasbourg as the Champions League Semi Final Second Leg looms into view. The big concern after the First Leg was a hamstring issue picked up by Ousmane Dembele and Paris Saint-Germain are giving nothing away in terms of his availability for the Second Leg.
Arsenal
Mikel Arteta surprised many with the team selected for the home game against Bournemouth on Saturday, but he was not rewarded after Arsenal suffered another home defeat. This has just put them under a bit of pressure as far as the top five race in the English Premier League goes, but the manager insists his team are only focused on recovering and producing a much better result on Wednesday.
The home loss to Paris Saint-Germain has left Arsenal as underdogs when it comes to progressing, but Arteta will have seen enough from his team to believe this tie is far from over. The Gunners were beaten at Inter Milan in the League Phase of the competition, but have won 4 away Champions League games in succession since then, including Knock Out tie wins at PSV Eindhoven and Real Madrid.
Arsenal have won 2 of their last 6 games in all competitions and have failed to win any of their last 3, although most notable is the fact they have lost consecutive fixtures at the Emirates Stadium. The away form has been stronger with the team unbeaten in 7 on their travels in all competitions and Arsenal have won 2 in a row at Real Madrid and Ipswich Town.
Thomas Partey was a big miss in the First Leg as he served a suspension, but he will be available here. Jurrien Timber is a doubt, but otherwise the team that started on Saturday could be selected here.
Head to Head
The result from the First Leg means both Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain hold a win over the other in matches played at the Emirates Stadium this season.
This will be the third meeting in the French capital and both previous fixtures have ended 1-1 here.
Prediction
Better finishing and perhaps some poorer goalkeeping would have seen Arsenal earn a positive result from the First Leg of this Semi Final and so all is not lost right now.
Recent form has perhaps been a little inconsistent, which makes it tougher to believe in Arsenal, but they are a solid team and that will always give them a chance in matches. 4 straight away Champions League wins will give the team confidence and there is a feeling that the first goal could be a huge factor in the outcome of this game.
With that in mind, all eyes in Paris will be on the fitness and availability of Ousmane Dembele who has grown into a top player over the last several months. He was dropped for discipline reasons when Paris Saint-Germain travelled to Arsenal in the League Phase of the competition and the French Champions were beaten 2-0, but Dembele has used that experience to grow under Luis Enrique and not push back under the manager.
It was his goal that separates the teams, but a hamstring issue saw him removed in the second half and Paris Saint-Germain will feel they need Ousmane Dembele in this Second Leg.
Even without him, Paris Saint-Germain will look to play in a similar way as they did in the First Leg and the manager is not one that will be happy to sit on the narrow lead earned.
Like Mikel Arteta, Luis Enrique will be very aware of the importance of the first goal and the feeling is that the game state could lean in favour of Paris Saint-Germain going into the final twenty minutes. As long as they not behind, the home team may lean more and more into the counter attack as Arsenal push players forward and it may just open the door for Paris Saint-Germain to secure a Second Leg win too.
You cannot dismiss the chances of Arsenal considering what we saw in the First Leg, but the home advantage is tough to ignore. Liverpool won here, but after riding their luck for long portions of the game, and Paris Saint-Germain may just have the edge in the final third even without Ousmane Dembele in the lineup.
The Statistics :
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Pick :
Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 Arsenal
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
I'll back Paris Saint-Germain to Win at 2.05 with Bet365 (early payout if a team is leading by two goals)
