Arsenal vs PSG prediction: Arsenal to win and Saka to shine

Arsenal get another test to see how far they have come under manager Mikel Arteta when they welcome Paris Saint-Germain to the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night (kick-off 8pm, Amazon Prime).

Both sides go into the game unbeaten in their respective leagues, but the French side have two more points in the Champions League after they beat Girona 1-0 in their first match, while the Gunners were held to a goalless draw by Atalanta.

Arsenal have been handed a huge boost with the news that France forward Ousmane Dembele, who has scored four times in six Ligue 1 matches for PSG, has been left out of the travelling squad for disciplinary reasons.

The Gunners have their own selection problems though with Riccardo Calafiori a doubt after suffering an injury in Saturday’s 4-2 win over Leicester City, but Ben White could return after missing the last two games with a knee injury.

The French champions have reached the semi-final stage of the Champions League in three of the past five seasons, but they have never beaten Arsenal.

Granted, they have only played each other four times; the last time came in the group stages of the same competition during the 2016/17 season and both games ended all square. They played out a 1-1 draw in Paris and then a 2-2 draw in London.

The only game not to end level was in the European Cup Winners Cup in 1994, after a 1-1 draw in France a solitary strike from Kevin Campbell earned the Gunners a 1-0 win at Highbury.

Without a win in four games means that PSG have played more games against the Gunners without winning than against any other opponent in European competition.

Another fact to give Arsenal hope tonight is that Enrique’s side have lost each of their last three away games against English sides in the Uefa Champions League, losing twice to Manchester City (both in 2021) and once to Newcastle last season.

Their 4-1 defeat at St. James’ Park last term was their heaviest away defeat to an English opponent in European competition.

Arteta’s side have been prolific in domestic action, with 11 goals in their last three games, and despite failing to score in their first Uefa Champions League game of the season - drawing 0-0 with Atalanta - we expect them to score tonight.

They’ve never previously failed to score in three consecutive matches in the European Cup/Champions League, having failed to score in their final European outing of last season, when they were beaten 1-0 by Bayern Munich.

Finding the back of the net may prove more difficult for PSG, whose win over Girona came courtesy of an own goal.

The last player to score for PSG in the Champions League was Kylian Mbappe on April 16th against Barcelona. Since then, they have had 71 shots without scoring in the competition and only 14 of those have been on target, while they have hit the woodwork on four occasions.

Without Dembele in the side, we expect their poor form in front of goal to continue tonight.

Betting sites go 8/11 on a home win, while PSG are 4/1 for the win and a draw is 14/5, but we’re going for a narrow Arsenal win in the correct score market.

If you’re looking for something with shorter odds on football betting sites, then this could be the perfect game for Bukayo Saka to get back amongst the goals.

He has been directly involved in seven goals in five Champions League appearances at the Emirates Stadium, with four goals and three assists, which is the most by a Gunners player in their first five home matches in the competition.

He hasn’t scored since the opening day of the season when he netted the second goal in the 2-0 win over Wolves, but Saka also has five assists and nine shots on target in the league so far, so we’re backing him to take that form into Europe.

Betting apps generally go odds-on for Saka to either score or assist against PSG, but we’ve found the best price on either outcome at Bet365.

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