PSG vs Arsenal match report: Alexis Sanchez sees Gunners escape with a point after Edinson Cavani's profligacy

Arsene Wenger got some decisions wrong last night in Paris, but the most surprising one proved to the best. No-one expected him to pick David Ospina over Petr Cech in goal but the Colombian was brilliant, keeping Paris Saint-Germain at bay all by himself, keeping Arsenal in a game that they somehow drew 1-1.

PSG should have won this by a distance, dominating midfield, carving Arsenal open and creating chance after chance. They took the lead after 42 seconds and hardly took their foot of the gas. And yet, with Ospina so desperate to prove that his selection was right, the hosts’ second goal never came. Edinson Cavani should have had a hat-trick, at the least, after his early header, but was left stuck on one. And then Arsenal, who barely threatened all game, scored with their first real attack through Alexis Sanchez. It was an authentic smash and grab job.

As a result, there can be no quibbling with the value of it to Arsenal. This ought to be their hardest game, by far. Having drawn it they are in now in the driving seat in Group A. As long as they do not slip up in their four games against FC Basel and Ludogorets, then PSG will have to come to the Emirates to try and win on 23 November. Arsenal can think and talk about winning the group, a luxury they miss out on too often.

And yet, as a performance, and as a series of decisions taken by Wenger, this was a very long way from being convincing. Although the decision to pick Ospina over Cech was thumpingly vindicated, almost every other decision was not. Leaving Granit Xhaka and Mohamed Elneny on the bench left Arsenal woefully exposed in midfield.

Adrien Rabiot, Marco Verratti and Grzegorz Krychowiak played around Santi Cazorla and Francis Coquelin laughably easily. Alex Iwobi was barely involved in the game on the left wing and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain even less so on the right.

If Arsenal play like this against good teams too often, in Europe or in the Premier League, they will get punished. But on Tuesday night they had the good fortune to play against a PSG side that, for all their talent, does not have the self-belief of a truly competitive big club. Everything was here for PSG to put Arsenal away, and to make a statement about how serious they are under Unai Emery. But with every missed chance they looked more anxious, as they threw the game away.

PSG could not have asked for a better start than the one they had. Arsenal were still dozing when the game got under way and with their first real move PSG took the lead. Emery wants his full-backs to attack high up the pitch and they swiftly moved the ball to Serge Aurier, attacking down the right. Nacho Monreal did not switch on in time to stop the cross. Shkodran Mustafi, rooted at the front post, stood and watched as Edinson Cavani got the run on him and glanced his header into the net.

These PSG players and fans are still deciding what they make of Emery, but the goal lifted everyone and lifted the level of their play. Laurent Koscielny had to stop Rabiot from scoring what would have been the goal of the season while Arsenal’s midfield failed to make any impact on the game.

While Cavani’s movement was as good as ever, he could not score a second goal to kill the game. He touched one ball beyond Ospina but lost balance with an empty net. He ran in behind onto Angel di Maria’s chip, but could not untangle his legs.

Wenger might well have been tempted to rectify it at the break, adding some balance to midfield or presence up front. But he pressed on with the same dysfunctional team. Of course it worked in the end, but for much of the second half it looked like it would not. Ospina had to save from Aurier, from Cavani and then from Di Maria’s powerful volley.

PSG had been on the attack all game but the first time Arsenal went forward with any real purpose, they scored. Mesut Ozil found Iwobi with a clever pass, and while his shot was parried out, Alexis Sanchez gleefully slapped in the rebound. On another night Sanchez might have been the hero, but that could be Ospina after a night like this. He had one good save left in him, bravely darting out and sticking his left hand at Cavani’s feet in the final seconds.

It was a frustrating night for PSG, and it showed when Verratti kicked out at Giroud in added time. Marquinhos then pushed Giroud into the little Italian midfielder. Verratti was shown a second yellow card as, bizarrely, was Giroud. It was an ugly end to a messy match. Arsenal cannot play this badly every week. But on this night they could.

Man of the match: Ospina

Match rating: 6

Paris Saint- Germain (4-3-3): Areola; Aurier (Meunier, 84) Marquinhos, Thiago Silva, Maxwell; Rabiot (Motta, 74), Krychowiak (Pastore, 79),Verratti; Di Maria, Cavani, Matuidi

Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Ospina; Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal; Coquelin (Xhaka, 71), Cazorla; Oxlade-Chamberlain (Giroud, 63), Ozil (Elneny, 84), Iwobi; Sanchez