CL Match Preview: PSV vs Arsenal

Our season hangs in the balance as we take on PSV Eindhoven over two legs in a crucial UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie.

With the Premier League seemingly destined for the red half of Merseyside for only the second time, the Champions League proves to be our most likely source for success.

While we secured our place in the last 16 by finishing third in a 36-team table, PSV progressed to the Round of 16 through the new-look play-off stage, where they eliminated Italian giants Juventus.

We faced the Dutch champions in the group stage of last season's Champions League, claiming a 4-0 victory at the Emirates before drawing 1-1 in the Netherlands.
 

Can this tie change the narrative for this season?

With our fate decided in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup, and all but sealed in the Premier League, our focus must now be on lifting the Champions League trophy in Munich at the end of May – the only piece of silverware missing from our illustrious collection.

It was highly anticipated that any slip-up from Manchester City in the Premier League would be capitalised on by Arsenal, who had finished as close runners-up to City in the past two seasons. However, this was far from reality, as new-look Liverpool emerged as the dominant force this season, leading the way by a commanding 13 points.

Although the general discourse surrounding our season has been negative, the pursuit of an elusive Champions League title could completely reshape the narrative.

Success in Europe has long eluded us. Winning the Champions League would not only bolster our already rich history but also place us among just six other English teams to have triumphed in this prestigious competition.

What the managers say ahead of Tuesday night's clash in Eindhoven

Mikel Arteta:

On what the team has learnt in the Champions League so far this season: "Especially about ourselves, we have played very differently home and away in the last year, especially in Europe. We have been much more consistent, we have scored a lot of goals, we have conceded hardly anything, I think we have conceded three goals and the lowest expected goals (against) in the group stage which is great. So that's a big platform, so we have those resources at the disposal of the team, it's something the team has already done and now we have to continue to do it.”

On our potential route to the final: "The reality is that for me personally as a coach, I just look at what's ahead and what's ahead is a team that has eliminated a team like Juventus, with a history. I know the difficulty; we played against them a lot in recent years and we know the difficulty of the match.”
 

PSV Boss – Peter Bosz:

On his last 48 hours: "Working hard, analysing things and putting your finger on the problem, but at the same time staying calm."

On any adjustments in style based on recent results: "I adjust my strategy for every game. Those details affect the game all over the field. I know my team well and it's not a guarantee that with a low block, you won't concede any goals. We have achieved success with this style of play.”

Stats and Facts

This will be the second time we've faced PSV in the knockout stages of the UCL, after being eliminated by the Dutch side in the Round of 16 in the 2006-07 season.

We've won each of our last four Champions League matches, scoring 13 goals and conceding just twice in victories over Sporting CP, Monaco, Dinamo Zagreb and Girona. A win on Tuesday night would extend this run to five, a streak we last achieved in 2005-06, when we registered our best ever finish in the competition as runners-up.

In our 14 Champions League outings against Dutch opposition, we've only lost one – a 1-0 loss to PSV in 2007 (W5, D8, L1).

We are winless in our last four away trips to Eindhoven (D2, L2) and have only won there once in the competition.

Inter Milan (1) are the only team to have conceded fewer goals than us in the UCL this season (3).