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Arsenal vs Paris Saint-Germain prediction: Dembele may dent Gunners’ European aspirations
Follow our Champions League betting tips as Arsenal host PSG in the Champions League semi-final
Arsenal vs Paris Saint-Germain Betting Tips
- Over 2.5 goals - 10/11 Bet365
- Dembele to score or assist - 11/10 William Hill
Arsenal host Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals on Tuesday hoping to get off to a flying start and make home advantage count in the tie (8pm, Prime Video).
Both sides are aiming for only their second appearance in the final, which takes place at the Allianz Arena in Munich later this month, and their first-ever Champions League title.
Arsenal's sole final appearance ended in a 2-1 defeat by Barcelona at the Stade de France in 2006 while PSG reached their only final in 2020 only to lose 1-0 to Bayern Munich in Lisbon.
The sides have already met in this season’s competition, with Arsenal winning 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium in the league phase in October.
Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka were both on target in that one, and Saka is joint favourite with the football betting sites to open the scoring at 7/1, along with PSG star Ousmane Dembele.
Liverpool and Aston Villa have also beaten PSG this season. The Reds won the first leg of the last-16 tie in Paris, before they were knocked out of the competition on penalties by the French side, while Villa lost 3-1 away before securing a 3-2 home win in the quarter-final second leg, but it wasn’t enough.
Only one English side have beaten PSG twice in a single season, and that was Manchester City at this stage of the 2020-21 competition, winning 2-1 away before following it up with a 2-0 win at home.
Arsenal vs PSG Betting Preview: No Shortage of Goalscorers
This will be the sixth meeting between the two sides with the Gunners yet to taste defeat. Arsenal have won two and drawn three of the previous five meetings, making them the side that PSG have faced the most times in Europe without winning.
Arsenal were comfortable winners in the pair’s most recent meeting last October, but the French side are going into this game in very different form.
They struggled during the early stages in Europe, losing to Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, and Bayern Munich and drawing with PSV Eindhoven. However, they won their final three league phase matches to qualify for the knockout stage and then saw off Breast, Liverpool, and Aston Villa.
They go into Tuesday’s game with 14 wins from their last 17 games, wrapping up the Ligue 1 title with six games to spare.
Dreams of becoming the first-ever team to go unbeaten in Ligue 1 were shattered last Friday when they were surprisingly beaten 3-1 by Nice, but a response is expected from this talented young side.
Mikel Arteta’s side should be the fresher team after a weekend off and are unbeaten in their last 12 in all competitions. However, they have drawn six and won six, recently being held by Everton, Brentford and Crystal Palace to give Liverpool a helping hand when it came to winning the league title.
Much like PSG though, the league has become secondary for the Gunners, who made a real statement of intent in the last round when beating reigning champions Real Madrid home and away.
Betting sites have Arsenal as the favourites to win on Tuesday at 29/25, but make PSG odds-on at 3/4 to reach their second final.
One surprise statistic going into this game is that it will be only the third semi-final tie to see two Spanish managers face off against each other, after Carles Rexach (Barcelona) vs. Vicente del Bosque (Real Madrid) in 2001-02 and Pep Guardiola (Bayern Munich) vs. Luis Enrique (Barcelona) in 2014-15.
For Arteta, he also has history in Paris after scoring five goals in 53 appearances for Paris between 2001 and 2002 during an 18-month loan from Barcelona.
The Gunners have scored two or more goals in four of their last five matches in all competitions, while PSG have only failed to score in one of their last 31 games, setting the stage for an entertaining first leg.
Arsenal vs PSG prediction 1: Over 2.5 goals - 10/11 Bet365
Arsenal vs PSG Tips: Dembele Can Rise to The Occasion
Both teams have scored 30 goals in this season’s competition, with 13 different Arsenal players on the scoresheet and 11 different PSG scorers, so there are a lot of good options available in the anytime scorer market on betting apps.
Bukayo Saka has scored nine goals and provided six assists in 16 appearances in the Uefa Champions League for Arsenal.
This is already the most goal involvements for an English player in their first two seasons in the competition, and the most by a winger in their first two since Sadio Mané (16 across 2017-18 and 2018-19).
He has two goals in his last seven since returning from over three months out through injury, but he did open the scoring against Real Madrid in Bernabeu, after missing a penalty.
As mentioned, he is 7/1 to open the scoring, the same price as PSG’s Dembele, who has been directly involved in 10 goals in the Champions League this season, with seven goals and three assists.
He could equal the record for most goal involvements by a PSG player in a single season, which is currently held by Kylian Mbappé, who contributed 11 during the 2020-21 season, with eight goals and three assists.
The French international has 31 goals in 47 appearances from club and country so far this season, but is without a goal in his last six.
In the latest Champions League odds, Saka is 11/10 to score or assist on Tuesday, while Dembele is 6/5 to achieve the same feat. The Frenchman was left out of the squad for last October’s game at Arsenal on disciplinary grounds but can make his presence felt on PSG’s return.
Arsenal vs Paris Saint-Germain 2: Dembele to score or assist - 11/10 William Hill
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