PSV vs Arsenal LIVE: Champions League result and reaction as Gunners make history with huge win
PSV 1-7 Arsenal: An extraordinary night saw the Gunners became the first away team in Champions League history to score seven goals in a knockout stage match
Arsenal have more than one foot in the Champions League quarter-finals after scoring seven goals in an extraordinary away win at hapless PSV Eindhoven.
The Gunners have struggled for goals in recent weeks - failing to score in three of their last four games - but Mikel Arteta’s side sparked into life in a devastating 7-1 win.
Goals from Jurrien Timber, 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri and makeshift striker Mikel Merino put the visitors in a barely believable position before half-time.
Noah Lang pulled one back from the penalty spot, but Arsenal scored just seconds after the restart as Martin Odegaard restored their three-goal cushion.
Leandro Trossard added another two minutes later, with Odegaard notching his second and Riccardo Calafiori rounding off a superb evening for the north Londoners with a seventh.
The Gunners became the first away team in Champions League history to score seven goals in a knockout stage match and next week’s second leg at the Emirates is all but a formality.
Arsenal can start to look forward to the next round, where they will face either Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid in the quarter-finals. Follow all the Champions League reaction with our live blog below:
Team news
The line-ups should be released in the next 10 minutes or so, so here’s a reminder of the early team news...
Arsenal have had almost a week off since their draw with Forest, and there were no new injury concerns for Mikel Arteta after that match. Miles Lewis-Skelly is free to return to the side in European competition, so he could feature again.
With news that Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus and Takehiro Tomiyasu will miss the rest of the season, Arsenal continue to be short of options in key positions. In addition, this match will come too soon for Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli, with neither expected back until next month.
For PSV, former Barcelona full-back Sergino Dest is expected to return this month, though this match may come too soon. Centre-back Ricardo Pepi and midfielder Malik Tillman are the long-term absentees for the Dutch side.
The Champions League returns and its flaws leave an unintended benefit
There are a lot of elite footballers who still have the Champions Leaguetheme as their ringtone, and some will be actively playing it on the way to stadiums. Familiarity hasn’t dulled excitement. It’s fair to say that isn’t really from the relative laboriousness of the group stage, but rather the exquisite energy of the knockouts.
This week is where football history starts to be made, partly because of how visions of glory can be instantly consigned to the past. It is tension and tantalising opportunity all at once. Through that, there’s a distinctive thought, one even more striking than the sense many players will feel this week of stepping out into great stadiums. A good chunk of this season’s stars were children when watching Barcelona’s comeback against Paris Saint-Germain in 2017, the kind of game that made them first realise the unique magic of these nights.
That was obviously the case for Camp Nou’s current talents like Lamine Yamal, Pedri and Gavi but also stars like Jude Bellingham, Jamal Musiala, Ryan Gravenberch and arguably even William Saliba and Bukayo Saka. Such grandeur and mystique is what Uefa and all of football’s major stakeholders at least think they are striving for.
The Champions League returns and its flaws leave an unintended benefit
Champions League last-16 ties
With Villa’s match against Brugge already underway, here’s a brief reminder of the last-16 ties in the Champions League.
Tuesday, 4 March
Aston Villa vs Club Brugge
Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid
PSV vs Arsenal
Dortmund vs Lille
Wednesday, 5 March
Feyenoord vs Inter
Bayern Munich vs Bayer Leverkusen
PSG vs Liverpool
Benfica vs Barcelona
Ivan Perisic says Arsenal have ‘lacked’ what it takes to be winners
Former Tottenham player Ivan Perisic says Arsenal have “lacked” what it takes to be winners and believes his current side PSV Eindhoven can shock the Gunners in their Champions League last-16 tie.
Perisic, 36, has revived his career at the Dutch club and scored in PSV’s victory over Juventus in the previous round and will now face his former north London rivals on Tuesday night in Eindhoven.
Mikel Arteta’s side have crashed out of the Premier League title race since their last Champions League outing, with a defeat to West Ham and a draw to Nottingham Forest handing the advantage to runaway leaders Liverpool.
Ivan Perisic says Arsenal have ‘lacked’ what it takes to be winners
Prediction
All that matters in this first leg is taking some kind of result back to the Emirates, and despite their offensive woes in recent weeks, Arsenal’s defence is still one of the best on the continent. They should sneak a win in Eindhoven.
PSV 0-1 Arsenal.
Jurrien Timber urges Arsenal to ‘change the narrative’ against PSV
Jurrien Timber has challenged Arsenal to change the narrative ahead of their Champions League knockout clash against PSV Eindhoven.
The Gunners arrive in the Netherlands with their Premier League title hopes all but over after collecting just one point from their past two matches.
Mikel Arteta’s squad, without a recognised striker following season-ending injuries to Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz, also failed to find the back of the net in those two fixtures.
Jurrien Timber urges Arsenal to ‘change the narrative’ against PSV
Predicted line-ups
PSV XI: Benitez; Ledezma, Flamingo, Boscagli, Junior; Schouten, Veerman; Perisic, Saibari, Lang; de Jong.
Arsenal XI: Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori; Odegaard, Jorginho, Rice; Nwaneri, Merino, Trossard.
Team news
For PSV, former Barcelona full-back Sergino Dest is expected to return this month, though this match may come too soon. Centre-back Ricardo Pepi and midfielder Malik Tillman are the long-term absentees for the Dutch side.
Team news
Arsenal have had almost a week off since their draw with Forest, and there were no new injury concerns for Mikel Arteta after that match. Miles Lewis-Skelly is free to return to the side in European competition, so he could feature again.
With news that Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus and Takehiro Tomiyasu will miss the rest of the season, Arsenal continue to be short of options in key positions. In addition, this match will come too soon for Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli, with neither expected back until next month.
Is PSV vs Arsenal on TV?
When is PSV vs Arsenal?
The match is due to kick off at 8pm GMT on Tuesday, 4 March at the Philips Stadion in Eindhoven, Netherlands.
How can I watch the match?
Viewers in the United Kingdom can watch the game live on Amazon Prime Video, with coverage starting at 7pm.
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