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Forget ‘la remontada’; Arsenal must find that ‘je ne sais quoi’ if they are to beat PSG this week and progress to the Champions League final.
This campaign has trundled along for some time but is close to being a full-on disaster now, with the Gunners currently 1-0 down ahead of a return trip to Paris. They followed up their European setback with a first-ever Premier League home loss to Bournemouth and, if the rot persists, Mikel Arteta may yet be dragged into a top-five race on top of his impending European heartache.
However, there is still a genuine hope that 2024/25 might end in glorious fashion. Beating PSG could earn Arsenal just a second-ever Champions League final appearance and thus dispel the memories of a painful domestic year, while a special night in Munich would see it rank among the greatest in club history.
The odds are stacked against us, but here are three reasons to believe that we might overturn the 1-0 deficit on Wednesday.
3 reasons to believe that Arsenal can still pull off a comeback win against PSG
1. There is ‘only’ one goal in it
This is the obvious place to start.
Fans are justified in their scepticism of an Arsenal win: PSG are one of the best teams in Europe and will hold an advantage on home turf. In addition, the Gunners have developed a bad habit of losing from winning positions and few teams boast the talent to capitalise on it better than a star-studded PSG group.
Consider too how the margin could so easily have been bigger and it is no wonder that many doubt Arsenal can pull off a seismic result.
But what we need is far from a miracle – 'just' win the match. Okay, the French champions represent top-class opposition and we are in poor form, but this Arsenal side has shown that it can keep heads cool on the biggest occasions (e.g. at the Bernabeu) and such experience might serve them well in pursuit of a narrow win.
Furthermore, Les Parisiens bear a reputation for ‘choking’ and *almost* surrendered a 5-1 aggregate lead to Aston Villa in the quarter-finals, so perhaps there is a vulnerability we can exploit if things fall our way at the Parc des Princes.
If a strong Premier League club does not feel it can overturn such a narrow deficit, then something is seriously wrong.
Continued on the next slide...