PSG came away from the sides’ first meeting with a 1-0 victory thanks to an early goal from Ousmane Dembélé and will now look to defend their lead at the Parc de Princes this week. The Gunners will be looking to keep their hopes of lifting the Champions League trophy for the first time alive under manager Mikel Arteta who decided not to rest key players at the weekend against Bournemouth.
Wenger, who came close to winning the Champions League during his time in charge spoke on beIN SPORTS about the challenge his former side must overcome if they want to reach the final.
“What is interesting in the Champions League, when you go away and home, is every time before you start the game in the second leg, you have a mental problem to resolve The advantage for Arsenal is the mental problem is easy. They have to go and play and win.
“The mental problem for PSG is: do we play to win this game or do we play to protect our advantage and get them playing on the counter-attack, knowing you have to be very clear in your message to the team?
“As well, knowing that not everybody in the team will necessarily be aligned with you because if they decide to protect their advantage, it’s a little bit against the DNA of the team.
“So Luis Enrique has already come out and said they have another game to win and I believe, with the final in mind and you playing at home, it will be very difficult to have a passive attitude.”
PSG were defeated 2-0 by Arteta’s men in the league phase of this year’s competition back in October and his side will be looking to copy that performance against the Ligue 1 champions who looked unstoppable at the moment. Dembele was missing for PSG in October and he may be missing once more due to tightness in his right hamstring which may be a major advantage for the North London side.