The latest news which came from the Arsenal camp these days has been about Joshua Kimmich. Reports say that the Gunners are interested in the Bayern midfielder whose contract extensions have stalled. And that’s reasonable, considering that there are a few players in that position who will not be in the Gunners’ team come May, but what about the striker? A true number 9, or the lack of one, to be precise, is the reason why coach Mikel Arteta knows that the Premier League title is over but just won’t say it out loud. And yet, the former Arsenal player thinks that his team has more chances of winning the title than the Champions League.🗣️ Mikel Arteta on analysing PSV ahead of the Champions League tie: “I’m more interested in how they behave, what they play and why they do certain things…” 🧠 pic.twitter.com/lyoo2BC2B3— DailyAFC (@DailyAFC) March 3, 2025 Speaking for Sky Sports before the first leg against PSV Eindhoven in the Round of 16, Paul Merson was optimistic about the upcoming opponent but not for the rest of the tournament.”This is going to be a dangerous game. I’d expect Arsenal to go through but I don’t think it’s as much of a foregone conclusion as what it was. I can see it going a long way. The title race is gone and this is their season now but even after this, they’re right up against it. They’ve still got to play Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid in the quarter-finals – and Real would outscore Arsenal. Then they’ve got to play Liverpool or whoever in the semi-finals. It’s probably easier to win the league and they’re 13 points behind. A bad 45 minutes could send you out of the competition. I don’t see Arsenal blowing anybody away in 45 minutes. Arsenal just don’t have the firepower to do that” he said.Prove us wrong – this is the worst Premier League season ever!And than he came back to the painful topic – the attack. With injuries to almost all forwards, Arteta was forced to play Mikel Merino as the attacker and and it worked for only one game, while the Gunners failed to score a single goal against West Ham and Nottingham Forest. Merson has another idea.“Arsenal have failed to score in their last two games and they only scored against Leicester, who have been letting goals in for fun, in the last 10 minutes. I hope Mikel Arteta stops playing Mikel Merino up front. I can’t get my head around that one. I know he came on against Leicester and scored twice but Leicester are Leicester, they’re not very good. I would play Raheem Sterling up front. He’s lively. Defenders will be happy to play against Merino every day of the week. He’s not a centre forward. At least Sterling’s played up there before” he suggested.Clubs form the line before Kimmich’s door – Arsenal first to knockAs for Arsenal’s coach, it’s clear that his main power at the moment is defence.”We have played very differently home and away the last year, especially in Europe. This year, we have been much more consistent. We have scored a lot of goals and not conceded almost anything. We have only conceded three goals and the lowest Expected Goals in the competition which is great. That’s a big platform. We have those resources, that’s what the team has already done. Now we have to continue to do it” said the Spaniard.UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – ROUND OF 16First legTuesday 20.45: (2.85) Club Brugge (3.25) Aston Villa (2.55)23.00: (1.80) Dortmund (3.60) Lille (4.60)23.00: (3.80) PSV (3.45) Arsenal (2.00)23.00: (1.87) Real Madrid (3.50) Atl.Madrid (4.20)Wednesday 20.45: (5.60) Feyenoord (3.70) Inter (1.65)23.00: (1.82) Bayern (3.60) Leverkusen (4.40)23.00: (3.80) Benfica (3.60) Barcelona (1.95)23.00: (2.45) PSG (3.45) Liverpool (2.80)***odds are subject to change***
