Gavan Casey

is unusual I actually don't know the answer it's similar to the Champions Cup final last week with Leinster in Bilbao at that time it was to do with the Cannes Film Festival and French television rights so it is a strange one it's an earlier start than we would be accustomed to but I suppose for Arsenal fans in particular in Ireland it's a chance to celebrate long into the night if things go well for them

I'm inclined to agree with you, but I would say, Jonathan, that the only team in the competition that could conceivably stop PSG is Arsenal, just due to the kind of ideological differences with which these teams play.

Obviously, Arsenal are extremely compact.

And like, if you looked at their semifinals, I mean, that...

PSG-Bayern two-legged tie was extraordinary particularly that first leg where there were about I don't know 178 goals shared between them it felt like at the time and Arsenal against Atletico was was such an antithesis to that in that it was such a low scoring affair and look the way Bayern played against PSG probably complemented all of that attacking flair that you mentioned that that PSG have in their ranks and some of the best attacking players in the world and Arsenal are just not going to be as open as that

I still agree with you.

I just think this PSG team is adept enough and talented enough to find a way.

And worth remembering as well, these teams met in the Champions League semi-finals themselves last season and PSG did outclass Arsenal over two legs.

This is one leg though, you know.

Yeah.

The phrase typically is any given Sunday, it could be any given Saturday for Arsenal.

They have the monkey off their back, as you say, in the Premier League, first title in 22 years.

And this is a chance for a first European Cup.

And perhaps having already won that trophy and ended that particular drought in England, they may feel unencumbered by this task ahead of them.

100%.

I mean, that famous Arsenal chant, 1-0 to the Arsenal from the George Graham era, going back 30-odd years, it sort of applies now again.

Time is a flat circle, Jonathan.

That's kind of the team they've become again.

And the Arsenal team under Arsene Wenger of the early 2000s was actually probably more akin to the PSG team now, in that it was such a silky French-influenced team.

This is a far more robust outfit.