Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain have plenty in common, most notably their currently unsuccessful quests to win football’s Holy Grail, which is also known as the Champions League.
Both clubs have battled their way to the final without celebrating the ultimate success as the Gunners lost the 2006 decider at the Stade de France when they were beaten 2-1 by Barcelona while PSG reached the showpiece in Lisbon four years ago but could not prevent Bayern Munich enjoying a 1-0 triumph.
They will both fancy their chances of progressing deep into the tournament again this year and both have made fast starts to the season with Mikel Arteta’s side third in the Premier League just a point behind leaders Liverpool while PSG top Ligue 1 with 16 points from a possible 18.
The Gunners have failed to score just once this season which was in the 0-0 draw with Atalanta in Bergamo a fortnight ago when David Raya made an excellent double save from a penalty.
He’s currently the best goalkeeper in English football but while Arsenal also have the best defence there’s no doubt it is better when they shut up shop on their travels than when they are slugging it out at home.
Since beating Wolves 2-0 on the opening day of the season, the Gunners have drawn 1-1 at the Emirates Stadium with Brighton and beaten Bolton 5-1 in the Carabao Cup and Leicester City 4-2 in the league, giving PSG some hope of getting on the scoresheet.
French striker Bradley Barcola has the unenviable job of replacing Kylian Mbappe as the focal point of the Paris attack and he has done a very good job so far with six goals in seven matches and could grab a consolation at 4/1 with bet365.
The Gunners, though, will be too strong for their opponents, who struggled to beat LaLiga underdogs Girona 1-0 on home soil in the first round of matches, and are 4/5 to win with BetGoodwin while Kai Havertz can score for the third match in a row to take his tally to five for the season.
The former Chelsea attacker is 6/1 with bet365, Betfair and Paddy Power to break the deadlock and 21/10 with the same firms to score at any time. A 2-1 Arsenal victory is 15/2 with bet365 and William Hill.
• Manchester City should make light work of Slovan Bratislava who were thumped 5-1 at Celtic in the first round of Champions League matches. Over 4.5 goals is 7/5 with Paddy Power while we’ll be a little bit more adventurous with the correct score and take Pep Guardiola’s side at 14/1 with William Hill, bet365 and 888Sport to win 6-0.
• Celtic have made a perfect start to the season with nine straight victories – and 16 goals in their last three games – but will suffer their first defeat at Borussia Dortmund. The Bundesliga club have won all three home games to date by a two-goal margin and are 13/10 with numerous firms including StarSports to win by over 1.5 this time around.
• Leeds, Birmingham, Wycombe and Chesterfield form Tuesday’s Football League acca.
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