It was an ugly result and a poor performance, yet many fans would’ve been happy before the match to get a draw.
Disaster struck early, before the first minute was over to be precise. Edinson Cavani headed home a Serge Aurier cross, on a move where PSG cut the Gunners open and punished their fans who came late.
For the rest of the first half PSG dominated. They pressed high and the Gunners had trouble moving the ball upfield. On a number of occasions they created great chances and opened Arsenal’s defence. Only poor finishing and great saves kept the score the same at half-time.
The best chance was when Cavani latched onto a short clearance from Monreal, went around Ospina but put the ball wide. Ospina saved a sneaky corner kick from di Maria, which was heading under the bar. Cavani had other chances which he didn’t convert including one where he was offside and he stumbled when he had the goal at his mercy.
In the second half, Arsenal played better and PSG became a little less aggressive and more interested in counter-attacking. While Arsenal dominated possession, PSG created the better chances.
The best chance saw Cavani power past Koscielny, side step Ospina, only to see the Colombian sweep the ball away with his arm, a major save.
With the arrival of Giroud, Arsenal started to look more dangerous. In the 77th minute Ozil produced his only moment of the day, a slick pass into the box to Iwobi, who thumped it at the goalie. The ball rebounded out to Alexis, who powered it home.
Arsenal almost stole all three points when Alexis found Iwobi, whose shot produced a fine save from Areola.
Olivier Giroud was then sent off, getting into an incident with Verratti. I found his attitude petulant and so did the referee. For a moment one sensed a repeat of last year’s fiasco against Dinamo.
PSG had one last chance, a corner kick where Marquinhos came within a whisker of heading home a cross that fizzed invitingly across the area.
Player Ratings:
Ospina 9. Fans gasped when they saw his name on the team sheet, but he produced several excellent saves. His last minute sweep of the arm to deny Cavani was world class. He smothered great chances in the second half that fell to Cavani and Aurier. He made a reflex save off an attempted lob by di Maria … Only real quibble was one poor pass he made in the second half. A great effort and our man of the match.
Bellerin 7. His game featured the odd mistake and some good surging runs, particularly in the second half.
Mustafi 7. Several times he could be seen waving his arm for offside, not usually getting the call. He battled hard and showed some steel. It’s difficult to look good when your team is pressing for an equalizer and you get little protection. He could have been tighter to Cavani on the opening goal.
Koscielny 7. A battling performance. I was surprised to see how Cavani turned him and surged away from him.
Monreal 6. Made a key challenge on di Maria to prevent him taking a shot (but not a dive). Nacho had a tough night trying to stop Aurier, who largely had his number.
Coquelin 7. He battled hard, earned a yellow card in the first half, had a powerful shot at goal (it was blocked) and put himself about. His selection over Xhaka was a surprise.
Cazorla 6. He had a tough first half, giving the ball away and being on the receiving end of several nasty physical challenges. As the game opened up in the second half, he became more prominent.
Ozil 5. Is he in a slump or is he injured or disinterested? Hardly noticed him for much of the match where he made mistakes you wouldn’t expect. Yet he delivered the key pass which set up the goal. Left the game early and he didn’t look that pleased.
Iwobi 6. In the first half he provided little help to Monreal and he looked a little rusty. He settled into the game a lot better in the second half and produced a shot which set up our goal. He almost won the game a little later with another shot. Later, on the break, he squandered possession with some poor control when he had space.
Sanchez 7. An opportunistic goal was reward for a frustrating evening where he played out of position and got little support. Too often he leaves his post to find the ball, meaning we sometimes lacked a presence up front. Still, despite being on the end of PSG fouling both on and off the ball, he created enough mischief and mayhem to make fans believe that we could come back and maybe even win.
Oxlade-Chamberlain 4. Nobody can blame Wenger for not giving the Ox a fair chance. Starting his fourth game in a row you’d be expecting him to be improving. Wrong. This was Alex’s worst game. Almost every touch betrayed him. He had a cross goal header in the first half and a blocked shot in the second, but everything else was a disaster.
Substitutes:
Xhaka n/a. Didn’t really do anything of note.
Elneny n/a. Wasn’t on the field very long.
Giroud 2. Yes, he should’ve started. I understand his frustration. Then he gets booed by the Paris crowd as he takes the field. Yes, he turned our fortunes around with just his mere presence. Then he starts to argue with the referee. From his first argument I could smell a yellow card coming. And it did a few minutes later. Given what happened last season, there’s no way he’ll get another, I thought. Wrong! An incident with Verratti and the referee had no patience to sort things out and tossed them both off. Was there contact? Maybe, but Olivier should’ve had a better attitude from the start. The team cannot afford the luxury of a player prone to arguing with referees.