Arsenal all but secured their place in the Champions League quarter-finals with a ruthless 7-1 demolition of PSV on Tuesday night. The secret? Runs in behind down the left-hand side.
Arsenal have one foot (and four toes) in the quarter-finals of the Champions League after thrashing PSV 7-1 at Philips Stadion on Tuesday night.
Mikel Arteta’s side became the first team in Champions League history to score seven goals away from home in a knockout-stage game. At times, it felt as though they would score with every attack.
They were 3-1 up by half-time, with Jurriën Timber heading in the opener before Ethan Nwaneri doubled their advantage. Mikel Merino added a third before the break, and Arsenal’s dominance only continued after the restart. Quickfire goals from Martin Ødegaard and Leandro Trossard put the game beyond doubt, before Ødegaard grabbed his second and Riccardo Calafiori rounded off an historic night.
Aside from the sheer volume of goals, what stood out most from the way Arsenal attacked was the joy they found in wide areas, particularly down the left. A combination of Myles Lewis-Skelly, Trossard, Declan Rice and Calafiori consistently found space in behind PSV’s right full-back Richard Ledezma. They exploited this ruthlessly.
Arsenal’s focus down the left was clear: 42.8% of their touches in PSV’s half came in the left third. That’s more or less a flip of their usual pattern in the Champions League, where 40.6% of their touches this season have come down the right, with Bukayo Saka often their focal point. The fact that figure of 40.6% is so high even with Saka missing Arsenal’s last three European games just tells you how influential he is.
Without Saka – and the also-injured Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz – Arsenal need to find new solutions, and it was their left-hand side that came to the fore on Tuesday.
Funnelling the ball down the left translated directly into attacking output. Half of Arsenal’s chances on the night came from that side, the joint-highest proportion in any game in their Champions League campaign thus far.
Central to the way Arsenal attacked down the left side was the willingness of players to run in behind PSV’s defensive line.
Rice’s cross for Timber’s header came after he was Arsenal’s furthest player forward, running on from midfield. Lewis-Skelly surged in behind before delivering the assist for Nwaneri. Calafiori slipped a pass through to Trossard for Arsenal’s fifth, again via a well-timed run into space. Even Calafiori’s goal, though it came down the right this time, stemmed from incisive off-the-ball movement in behind.
Rice darts in front of his marker to receive a pass from Trossard, before crossing to the backpost for Timber to score Lewis Skelly runs off the back of Ivan Perišić to receive from Trossard, before crossing for Nwaneri’s goal Trossard gets on the end of a pass from Calafiori, before dinking the goalkeeper Calafiori runs in between to receive a through ball from Ødegaard, before scoringPSV did not help themselves by playing such a high line. The space between their centre-backs and full-backs was alarmingly large, leaving gaps that Arsenal exploited relentlessly. The average positions of their two full-backs on the halfway line shows how much space Arsenal had to attack into.
This let us see a version of Arsenal that has been missing in recent weeks: more vertical, more aggressive, and more direct.
The Gunners held on to the ball for an average of just 10.3 seconds per possession against PSV, completing only 3.5 passes per sequence. In the Premier League this season, they average 12.4 seconds and 4.2 passes per sequence. In fact, they have only recorded fewer passes per sequence and spent less time with the ball per possession in six of their 27 league games this season than they did in the PSV game.
Their willingness to run beyond the opposition had also been lacking in recent matches. Against West Ham, for example, Arsenal made just seven runs into the final third that were targeted with a pass, their lowest total in any Premier League game this season. Yes, they were afforded more space to run into against PSV, but there was also a renewed invigoration in the way Arsenal came forward at pace.
In truth, this should probably not have been a seven-goal rout. Arsenal generated just 1.9 expected goals (xG), in total, but converted those chances with remarkable efficiency. They scored from four of their first six shots, and their +5.1 xG overperformance is the third-largest in Champions League history. The biggest is Bayern’s 7-2 win against Tottenham in 2019 (7 goals from 1.35 xG, +5.65 overperformance).
Arsenal capitalised on every moment of attacking threat, as shown by the game’s momentum chart below.
Maybe momentum is exactly the right word to take away from this performance. Arsenal came into this game having failed to score in three of their previous four matches. Questions were mounting over their lack of attacking output. They responded by becoming the first team in Champions League history to have six different scorers (excluding own goals) in an away knockout-stage game.
Now, the challenge is to carry that confidence and momentum into the weekend. A trip to Manchester United awaits.
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How Arsenal’s Left Flank Ripped PSV Apart in Champions League Thrashing Opta Analyst.
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