Nigel Winterburn outlines what Arsenal need to do to beat PSG in Champions League semi-final

Arsenal's hopes of winning their first-ever Champions League took a bit hit on Tuesday night as they lost the first leg of their semi-final clash with Paris Saint-Germain. 

The Gunners will head to the French capital next week trailing to a Ousmane Dembele goal at the Emirates, but former Arsenal favourite Nigel Winterburn believes the tie is far from over.

Speaking exclusively to DAZN News, thanks to FreeBets, Winterburn still thinks it's very close and that his old club have a chance of making next month's final. 

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He said, “I thought PSG were excellent for 30 minutes. They dominated the ball, kept the crowd relatively quiet, and scored the goal very, very early. Their passing, their movement, their attacking play was very, very good.

"I thought the rest of the game was quite easy. Arsenal had two big chances, which they didn't take either of them. The balance of the tie is switched to PSG, but I still think it's very close. Arsenal still have a huge opportunity, but after the result, you probably say it’s 55-45 in favour of PSG. 

 

“Arsenal have to judge whether they tweak the system because we're pretty sure that, provided there's no injuries, that Partey will come back in, Declan Rice will push forward a bit more to provide Arsenal a bit more energy higher up the pitch, as that PSG totally nullified this at the Emirates with their passing and their movement and getting out with the ball, even when Arsenal tried to press them - they just couldn’t cope.
 

Mikel Arteta's side know they will have to perform better in Paris next week, but having beaten PSG already this season, Winterburn says the North Londoners have a chance if they can control the game more than they did in the first leg. 

Adding: "I think PSG have already shown they're dangerous wherever they play. But we played them at home and we beat them 2-0 earlier in the season. Slightly different team then, but this time around, I thought they played to a very high level and I thought Arsenal were miles off the pace.

"So the question is, can PSG play any better? I know for sure that wasn't Arsenal's usual level. They're playing against a very good team, but I know Arsenal can play better than they did the other night, which gives me a lot of optimism.

" I'm still confident that we could scare a few people and there's a big opportunity there, but Arsenal will need to control the football much better than they did at home." 
 

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