Arsenal 2 PSG 0: Havertz’s scoring streak and Saka stars after Sterling’s son was his mascot

By
James BAOUCH
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Arsenal secured a comfortable 2-0 win in the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain at the Emirates, courtesy of goals from the in-form Kai Havertz and yet another set piece.

Havertz met a superb cross from Leandro Trossard to put Arsenal ahead and then a free-kick from Bukayo Saka — who walked out with the son of his team-mate Raheem Sterling before kick-off — bounced through a crowded box and past goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Arsenal have four points from their opening two games in the new-look Champions League, having drawn last time out against Atalanta, while PSG are still yet to score from a shot on goal. They beat Girona in the first round of matches courtesy of an own goal, and have now gone 81 shots without finding the back of the net in the Champions League (since their quarter-final win away to Barcelona in April).

Jordan Campbell, Liam Tharme and Peter Rutzler analyse the talking points from Arsenal’s straightforward victory…

Havertz continues his scoring streak at the Emirates

It took Havertz 11 games — 713 long minutes of football — to score his first Arsenal goal at the Emirates last season. 

With his first-half header to open the scoring against PSG, he made it four goals in as many games this season. 

The German has now scored at home in six consecutive games in all competitions, a far cry from last winter when the Arsenal crowd were willing the German’s team-mates to lay one on a plate for him just to inject some belief into a player visibly trying to feel comfortable. 

There are no such crisis of confidence now. Havertz is the focal point Arsenal have been searching for and, while he could have added to his tally, he has 14 goals and seven assists to his name since February, when he made his switch to Arsenal’s full-time striker.

It was in the Champions League that Havertz eventually broke his home duck, scoring the opener against Lens in November’s 6-0 win. It was a similar goal to his header against PSG in the sense that he arrived late to pounce on a ball while everyone else stood still. 


Havertz heads home (Marc Atkins/Getty Images)

Trossard delayed and delayed his inswinging cross until he saw Havertz make the late movement across the face of Donnarumma. The PSG defenders were oblivious to it and he showed admirable bravery to focus on the ball and steer it home despite the fist of the Italian goalkeeper coming into view.

The more he produces these perfectly timed runs and converts them, the quieter the noise around Arsenal’s problem position becomes.

Jordan Campbell

Arsenal dominate from set pieces — again

Set pieces have been synonymous with Arsenal this season. Saka’s wide free-kick, which went all the way through and in without a touch, was their sixth set-piece goal of 2024-25, across all competitions — in nine games.

It means half of Arsenal’s goals (12) have been from set pieces. Theoretically, it was a game where Arsenal could have expected success from dead-ball situations, especially given a lack of height in PSG’s midfield and forward line.


Saka’s free-kick went through a crowded box and into the net (Marc Atkins/Getty Images)

There were the back-post corner overloads that Arsenal have used to repeated good effect on multiple occasions this campaign, and those players starting from deep and running across the near-post proved to be ideal decoy runs for the opening goal, from Arsenal’s first attacking set piece of the game. Donnarumma struggled to read the flight of the ball and could not keep it out. 

 

As good as Arsenal were domestically at set pieces last season, they didn’t score a corner or free-kick goal in the Champions League, which was notable in the two knockout rounds when they struggled to create anything notable in open-play — despite having 19 corners over two legs against Porto.

With European matches notoriously being tighter and cagier, having a set-piece threat has never been more important.

Liam Tharme 

Is Timber off at half-time a concern for Arsenal?

There were roars for Arsenal’s two goals but arguably the biggest was reserved for Jurrien Timber when he stopped Bradley Barcola with a perfectly timed tackle and sprinted through three PSG players, all while inside his own penalty area.

It was the highlight of a first half in which the Dutch defender was a standout, which meant there was a hush of silence when he did not return after the break.

Timber completely nullified Barcola, who has torn many full-backs apart in Ligue 1 the last few years for Lyon and PSG. In possession Timber was flawless and once again highlighting how he has elevated Arsenal’s ability to play through teams. 


Timber kept Barcola in check (Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

After the game Arteta said Timber felt something “muscular” and did not want to take any risks. He has started eight of Arsenal’s nine games this season after missing a year due to an anterior cruciate ligament injury. “We have to manage him,” Arteta added.

Arsenal fans will hope it is not serious given Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu’s absences meant they had to shift Riccardo Calafiori to right-back, forming a back four consisting of three left-footed players. 

Jordan Campbell

Sterling’s son on mascot duty for Arsenal

If you are an Arsenal mascot and your dad happens to be an Arsenal player, it seems inevitable which player you would walk onto the pitch with on a big Champions League night.

Not so for seven-year-old Thiago Sterling. With his dad Raheem named on the bench by Arteta, he got to stand next to his true favourite player instead… Saka.

Wearing the captain’s armband once again in the absence of Martin Odegaard, it is easy to forget how young Saka is. It is just as difficult to compute that Sterling turns 30 this year.

The sight of Sterling Jr with Saka served as a reminder of the age gap between both wingers. Saka was only 11 when Sterling made his debut for Liverpool as a 17-year-old in March 2012 and as a black player from London who has stood up to racism, he was an influential player in his childhood.

Sterling can play an important role in fine-tuning Saka’s end product, just as he did at Manchester City. 

His set-piece delivery is only growing more pinpoint with each week. Against Manchester City and Leicester it was his corner kicks, but against PSG it was his whipped cross that flashed across everyone and into the far corner to make it 2-0 and kill the contest.

Jordan Campbell

Did PSG miss Ramos more than Dembele?

Ousmane Dembele’s absence for disciplinary reasons dominated the pre-match talk in France.

Dembele is a key player for PSG, perhaps their most influential creative outlet. In his place came Desire Doue, who was making his first start in the Champions League. He is versatile, but his best performances at former club Rennes often came from the left-hand side.

It was going to feel disjointed as a result and so it proved. Doue made only a limited impact. With Bracola quiet on the left, it left PSG stifled. In the final third, they continued an ominous run of shots without a PSG player scoring (their late win over Girona was secured by a Paulo Gazzaniga own goal). That now stands at 81 shots.

But for all that Dembele’s late omission disrupted PSG, it was a lack of a focal point that became apparent. They were in a sense missing Goncalo Ramos, the Portugal striker sidelined with an ankle injury until the new year. 

Lee Kang-in led the line as a false nine but it was a hiding to nothing. Up against Gabriel and William Saliba, he was never likely to cause the central defenders problems. With Arsenal wisely choosing their moments to press high and force PSG long, they were left without an outlet to hit.

For an hour, it made PSG comfortable to deal with for Arsenal. It was no surprise that Luis Enrique’s first change of the evening involved the introduction of Randal Kolo Muani, a more conventional No 9. He replaced Doue. PSG’s best spell came after those substitutions, with Fabian Ruiz assisting the midfield battle, simply by adding a greater physical presence.

Luis Enrique called Arsenal the best team without the ball in Europe before the game, but in the end, PSG were never able to truly test that moniker. That was as much to do with their focal point as it was the absence of their creative heartbeat Dembele.

Peter Rutzler

Is Donnarumma under pressure at PSG?

Donnarumma is among the best shot-stopping goalkeepers in the world, has won the European Championship with Italy, and yet has never quite fitted in with Luis Enrique’s style.

A high-pressing system suits a sweeper-keeper, and Luis Enrique’s desire to play out requires the No 1 to be good with their feet and a quick thinker, and it results in a smaller, more technical midfield. That means the goalkeeper, ideally, should be dominant in the box, as PSG can be weaker at defensive set pieces.

Yet, Donnarumma (6ft 5in) has never been any of those three things. He was late to leave his line to deal with the cross for the first goal, with Havertz beating him to Trossard’s delivery, and he misread Saka’s wide free-kick, through bodies, for the second.

Luis Enrique acquired Arnau Tenas on a free transfer from his former club Barcelona last summer, and this July they spent €20million on Matvei Safonov from Krasnodar. There are longer-term, bigger questions as to the No 1 profile that Luis Enrique picks, especially in Champions League games.

Donnarumma is undoubtedly first-choice for any game where they will face lots of shots, and has often been the game-winner, but if there is any focus on style, then Safonov, as he has in Ligue 1 recently, ought to get the nod. 

Liam Tharme

What next for Arsenal?

Saturday, October 5: Southampton (Home), Premier League, 3pm UK, 10am ET

What next for PSG?

Sunday, October 6: Nice (Away), Ligue 1, 7.45pm UK, 2.45pm ET

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(Additional contributor: Liam Tharme)

(Top photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images)



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