Arsenal v PSG LIVE: Team news and line-ups before Champions League semi-final tonight

Paris Saint-Germain boss, Luis Enrique, says that his team are ‘much better’ than when they faced Arsenal earlier in the season.

The Gunners ran out 2-0 winners back in October during the league phase and will hope to do the same tonight.

“I saw the match [back in October] again,” said Enrique, “We’re a much better team today.

“We had a very intense group phase, with a lot of games that could have been finals.

“So I think that made things difficult because we were in a difficult position, but it has made us much stronger and we are more complete.”

It was 24 years ago, but another figure looks instantly familiar in the footage. The first substitute PSG brought on that day in 2001 when they beat Baggio’s Brescia still has the same slender build, the same haircut.

Now, if Mikel Arteta gets European silverware for the second time, he will have to overcome the club with which he won his first.

Who will win tonight’s Champions League semi-final first leg?

Arsenal have home advantage but PSG are a surging force who seem on track to lift the European title for the first time.

Arsenal are ranked third favourites to win the trophy, according to most bookies, with Barcelona and PSG marginally ahead.

Asked whether Arsenal should be considered favourites to lift Europe’s most prestigious club trophy this year, Arteta met reality head-on.

“When you look at the history, no, because we’ve never done it,” he said. “Hopefully, if someone believes we can do it it’s because of the performances and what is the team transmitting against big opposition.”

“The players are really resonating with what we are doing, and they feel like we can face these guys and be better than them,” Arteta said.

“That’s the feeling we had against Madrid and in the previous rounds, and that’s how we feel today. I look them in the eyes and they can’t wait to play tomorrow, that’s the feeling.”

Arsenal, unbeaten for more than two months across all competitions, will hope to repeat their 2-0 win over PSG in the league phase in October.

“I loved (our) presence, how we went out there, our body language, the intensity, how aggressive we were,” Arteta said.

“We played with real belief and determination, and when you’re facing big opponents, immediately you need to put a game into that context.”

Arsenal have ambitions that extend well beyond reaching the Champions League semi-finals, coach Mikel Arteta said on Monday ahead of the first leg of their last-four tie against French champions Paris St Germain.

“We have overcome a lot of issues and challenges this season, and the fact that the team is here as one of the best four teams in Europe, it says (a lot) about the mindset, the spirit and how much we really want it,” Arteta told reporters.

“We are making history, and it’s a beautiful story right now, but we want more.”

Mikel Arteta has urged Arsenal fans to bring their ‘shirts, shorts and boots’ to the Emirates Stadium to carry his players to a maiden Champions League title.

The Gunners will contest their first semi-final on Europe’s grandest stage in 16 years when they host Paris St Germain.

Supporters answered Arteta’s pre-match call to create a raucous atmosphere for the first leg of their quarter-final against Real Madrid and he hopes for the same this time.

The Spaniard said: “You can sense the energy and the enthusiasm. It is probably one of the biggest games that the Emirates has seen since we built it.

“I told them, and I’m not exaggerating here, ‘Guys, bring your boots, bring your shorts, bring your T-shirts, and let’s play every ball together. We want to do something special’. That place has to be something that we haven’t seen before.”

Here is how we think the two teams might line up tonight:

Arsenal XI: Raya; Timber, Saliba, Kiwior, Lewis-Skelly; Odegaard, Rice, Merino; Saka, Trossard, Martinelli.

PSG XI: Donnarumma; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Mendes; Neves, Vitinha, Ruiz; Kvaratshkelia, Doue, Dembele.

Luis Enrique is not thought to have any fresh concerns to consider when naming his PSG side. The French capital club have added January signing Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to their squad since a 2-0 defeat at Arsenal during the league phase of the competition.

Mikel Arteta was not very happy with Thomas Partey for picking up a yellow card late in the win at the Santiago Bernabeu, which meant the defensive midfielder is ruled out tonight.

Arteta could opt to bring Mikel Merino back into midfield, but that would mean moving the Spaniard from his impressive work as a makeshift No 9, where he has not only been scoring goals but also dropping deep to link play and overrun opposing midfields. It would also mean Declan Rice might have to play in Partey’s defensive role, stifling Rice’s attacking influence.

With Merino in midfield, that would mean deploying Leandro Trossard as the central striker, and while Trossard has been in impressive form in recent weeks, he sometimes finds himself on the periphery in big games.

Another option is to keep Merino up front and bring in another central midfielder, like Myles Lewis-Skelly, with Oleksandr Zinchenko coming into the team at left-back, or Ben White filling in at right-back and Jurrien Timber moving over to the left.

Decisions, decisions for Arteta, but on the bright side at least it makes his team slightly harder for Luis Enrique to predict…