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Chapter 1: What is the significance of the Champions League final for Arsenal?
You could hear a pin drop in the lobby. It was that quiet. The referee letting play continue.
It's obviously hard now because of the way that's all ended.
Scales is up after it.
Scales wins the header. I will have that forever.
There's the goal. That's Troy Parrott. That is unbelievable.
Inner Drive, episode one with Troy Parrott, out now on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by Allianz, a proud sponsor of Irish Sport.
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Welcome along, it is Inside the Odds, our weekend preview show on Off the Ball in association with Novibet. And just the one game to speak about this week, so a nice easy job for us ahead. Tomorrow, 5 o'clock Irish time, Budapest is the venue for the UEFA Champions League final, Arsenal versus Paris Saint-Germain. We are going to dive deep into that game now on Inside the Odds.
Delighted to say, my South Monaghan man beside me is David Wilson.
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Chapter 2: How do Arsenal and PSG compare in terms of their season performance?
Inter-railing, I bet? No, I just have visited it a couple of times. I was at Ziggit last year. Oh, lovely. Not as cheap as it used to be is the only thing, but it's a fun city. Obviously, there's plenty to do as well. I missed out on the Ireland game in Budapest last year because I didn't want to go because I thought we were already knocked out and then we did what we did.
You have little faith in that.
I know. I went to Budapest last year on the way to Armenia for that famed 2-1 loss. So we had like 12, something like 14 hours in Budapest to spend. It was a nice place to spend a couple of hours.
The ruling bars.
Yeah, and a lot of coffee shops as well where John Wilson wrote about where football was discussed many, many years ago and still discussed it these days as well. I think it's supposed to be a lovely stadium as well, the Groupama Arena, which... Yeah, Owen Sheen obviously will be there tomorrow. He'll be over there.
I'm going to make an early prediction for the game. Let's get to the prediction straight away. Nothing to do with the game, but more to do with the aftermath of the game.
Okay.
The headline will be a picture of the PSG player that scores the winner with a pest in their side.
Yeah. Okay. Yeah. It's not bad. Yeah, I can see that. I can see that, but... That means you think PSG are going to win the Champions League final? You're going to write off Arsenal? We're skipping to that part already.
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Chapter 3: What tactical strategies will Arsenal employ against PSG?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. For a two-course dinner. It's always nice when you get to do that, isn't it?
Class. Yeah. It's actually two cities divided by the bridge, Buda and Pest. Yeah.
Sure is, because I can't remember the headline, but when Arsenal got there, there was a similar enough pun made, but they actually got it wrong, because the Pushcash Arena is not on the side that they mentioned. Got the pun wrong. They got the pun wrong.
Rookie mistake. If you're an Arsenal fan heading into this one, is it bonus territory? Or is it the case that if Arsenal do not win this game, there is dejection after the exhilaration of winning the league?
Yeah, I wouldn't say dejection. I think this is a massive opportunity for Arsenal to win their first Champions League. I think it feels like as the time has gone on towards the game, especially this week, I think Arsenal fans might feel a little bit more confident. Urien Timber looks like he's going to be back in fit to play. They're pretty much a fully fit squad.
Ben White, they have loads of options. They've had... I think it's been a benefit to them to win the Premier League in that midweek so they didn't have the stress of the Crystal Palace game. I think that's massive for them. And I think even psychologically that takes a bit of pressure away as well. I don't think it's a free shot because the Champions League final is such a hard final to get to.
But I definitely think that this is an exciting time. And for Arsenal fans, the one they really wanted was the Premier League final. So like you said, it is maybe a bit of bonus territory, but it's an unbelievable opportunity to win Premier League and Champions League double.
Yeah, I do think Arsenal fans will probably go into this game thinking, if we don't win this game...
we have a team that are going to be set up to go and take the Premier League title into next season and have the pressure off on the Premier League so they can concentrate on winning the Champions League and build upon the league because the Champions League is the ultimate prize but when you haven't won the Premier League in so long that becomes the obsession and the Champions League is quite literally bonus territory whereas next year there will be probably more pressure on them to
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Chapter 4: Who are the key players to watch in the Champions League final?
It's hard to see a thumping like last season, isn't it? Like, Arsenal don't get roundly beaten.
obviously if PSG score early and they're capable of scoring a couple of goals in the first 20 minutes here that's a big test for Arsenal not to drop off and completely fall away and collapse the whole thing but it's hard to see either team winning by a margin here no if a team wins by more than two goals I'd be very surprised if there's more than let's say two or three goals in the 90 minutes I would be also surprised look PSG can play electric football they've played unbelievable football in the Champions League especially all season
So whether Arsenal will allow them to do that probably remains to be seen. I don't think they will. Arsenal have been set up really, really well all season. That's why they have the best defence in the Premier League. That's why they won the league.
yeah I can't see PSG putting on a clinic that they put on last year against Inter but Inter were kind of coming to the end they kind of shot Barcelona to win that semi-final and had got to the final and were kind of weren't you know had been in the final obviously in 23 against Man City as well it's yeah I don't see I don't see PSG or Arsenal hammering either the sides I think it's
It's one where it could be a set-piece goal, and that'll suit Arsenal, or it could be a piece of brilliance from Dembele or Kvartskalja or DesirƩ DouƩ, and that might be the difference too. I think it'll be a goal here or there, but Arsenal don't tend to get beat, and they don't tend to get beat by more than two goals.
How do Arsenal set up? Are we going to see the same old, same old, Marte? Will he have tricks up the sleeve?
I think it's going to be ultra defensive from Arteta and he kind of needs to do that. Force his hand a little bit with the injuries that they have at right back as well because like Ben White for All that he is a more defensive-minded player, he does link up quite well with Saka going forward. I don't think they get that from Hincapia or Mascara as much.
Really depends who he chooses at left-back as well. Probably will be Calafuri or Hincapia, depending on what he does at right-back. If Timber comes in again, I don't know if he risks him in the final as a starter, but... I think the midfield is probably the more interesting part because Lewis Skelly will likely play beside Declan Rice and I think they'll need Lewis Skelly.
Obviously, Zubamendi provides more defensive cover, but what Arsenal probably really need more than that is somebody who's willing to take the ball under pressure and play out from the press because PSG's press is the best press in Europe.
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Chapter 5: What psychological factors affect Arsenal heading into the final?
Although when you think about the games against Atletico Madrid and Jokeres caused Atletico, especially in the second leg of the Emirates, caused them quite a lot of problems with his physicality. Maybe would they use that later on in the game or not? I think that's what they might do. But Arsenal won't give much away. But that's the thing. Who will win the game for Arsenal?
It could be a moment of brilliance from Saka or a moment of brilliance from Eze. or more than likely it's going to be a header piece, or a cross into the box, or even the goal they scored against Atletico Madrid was just like a ricochet off the keeper, and it comes to sack and he finishes it. Yeah, like, Arsenal would be hard to beat.
PSG want to stretch the game as much as they can, make the pitch as big as possible. Whether Arsenal will allow them to do that, I don't know. I think what Arsenal can really threaten PSG is the transitions, and if they win the ball back in certain areas of the pitch... that midfield that PSG will struggle to kind of stop those transitions of Rice, Lewis, Skelly and especially Abreche Eze.
Like I do think there's a tendency to say just because Arsenal are playing a defensive style that what they need is a Jacareza front as an out ball but as you said Eze, Saka, Havertz these are the players that they actually need players that are going to get in the gaps and into space and take the ball into feet and hold it and be able to
take it with their backs to goal or take it under pressure from Vitinha and Joao Neves and be able to go past them. So you need your ball players on the pitch against PSG because Pacho and Marquinhos, they're not going to be bullied by any striker. They're not the biggest strikers in the world, but they're not going to be bullied.
And you definitely need the pace of the likes of Saka to get at Nuno Mendes and put him under pressure. That's the battle that everyone's probably looking forward to the most, I would say. If he gets booked early on like he did in the Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich,
against Olise like Olise caused him serious problems so Saka not a dissimilar player to Olise probably not as good on the ball but similar in that he can go inside and outside so Arsenal can cause PSG trouble as well they also concede as Barry Murphy was saying on off-ball breakfast this morning like they pointed out that they concede a lot of goals PSG 22 I think to 6 compared to Arsenal in the Champions League this year I know a lot of those were against Bayern in the semi-final but
they can be opened up a little bit, because they're so good in the attacking sense that they almost, they just know they're going to score more than the opposition.
Yeah, but then you look at the games that Arsenal and PSG have played, Arsenal have had
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Chapter 6: How does the historical context influence the match expectations?
If you have a plan to stop Kvart at Skellige, that's in any way not foolproof, then you're onto something. But that's slightly easier said than done. He's a scary player. Hakimi, obviously, being presumably out is not ideal. But, I mean, when you look across that PSG team, it's ridiculous. Yeah.
I don't know it's tough to see anything and the main thing I remember seeing was that Jens Lehmann spoke recently it was a TV punditry for one of the Arsenal games and he was kind of speaking to one of the players and saying whatever you do don't get sent off as he did in 06 like would completely ruin like if Arsenal weren't to have a sending off at some stage in this game in the first 70 minutes it's game over like yeah Arsenal have no red cards this season though I haven't conceded any penalties now is the time in the Premier League so it would be mental if that kind of did happen yeah yeah
but like the 2006 final is one of the I think it was one of the all time great finals maybe not for the actual game but like for the things that happened Eto'o offside goal yeah Henrik Larsson coming on and like basically creating two goals adding nothing
Yeah, Thierry Henry had a famous rant after that game where he just went off script. He was going to Barcelona the following year. Was it the following year or maybe the year after?
The year after, maybe, yeah.
he was interviewed on the pitch and it's unusual to see a player who loses the final interviewed on the pitch after the game, but he went on this amazing rant about everyone was talking about Ronaldinho, everyone was talking about Ato, everyone was talking about all these different players, but Henrik Larsson, he came off the bench and he changed the game. I'm like...
it was so weird it's genuinely really bizarre I'm angry Tony I'm angry he was angry after that game yeah like yeah like do Arsenal do Arsenal kind of need to like maybe lose a final to win one is that like is it like like I said like that incremental improvement
I don't think it's the end of the world if they lose this final.
No, I think they'll be back. They'll be competing at the top end. Arsenal have basically two or three players for every single position. PSG don't because they don't need to because they can play some young players and experienced players in Ligue 1 on a Saturday or Sunday and still be class for the Champions League. They are literally putting...
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Chapter 7: What are the predictions for the Champions League final outcome?
PSG need to win this Champions League final.
Yeah.
Arsenal's rubrification of football is not something I can get ever getting bored on. Arsenal fans back in, David.
Styles do make fights though. True, true. Which is part of it. And Jonathan Wilson actually spoke about this on Off The Ball Breakfast about how teams like Arsenal are actually important in that you've got the
Pep Guardiola style that has engulfed English football to the extent where we now have like National League sides playing out from the back and keeping the ball and being possession based and everyone just copies that and it's copycat throughout. You don't want that in football. You don't want every team to play the exact same way.
Now, I do see the danger in everyone copying Arsenal and that becoming the brand that everyone goes for. But I think it is important to have teams like Arsenal who play the way they do so we can appreciate PSG to the extent that we do because... Otherwise, if everyone's passing out from the back, if everyone's great, then nobody's great.
It's sort of the PSG of the good guys. This is how far we've come.
We've come full circle. When you said about, oh, we're kind of in Champions League mode, I was like, yeah, it seems like I've spent most of my... year this year watching Declan Rice or waiting to watch Declan Rice take a set piece. That's why I may be a little bit tired. It's been nice to have a little break this week.
Hopefully we get a crack in final tomorrow evening. We've got our own bet builder as well, so as it's clearly the biggest game of the weekend, it's the game that Noviewbet will offer up to a ā¬10 free bet if your bet builder loses on the Champions League final. We have gone for our own bet builder for it, which you'll see in a moment up on screen, and you can rip it to pieces
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Chapter 8: How does this match impact the future of both teams?
Just to make yourself feel better.
But then again, you can't look past the current European champions and the players like Fart Skellia, Brodie Barkala, Desiree DouƩ, Ousmane Dembele looks like he should be fit. Then you've got Vitinha and Joao Neves in midfield. Warren Zara Emery is another fantastic player. He's still really young.
Nuno Mendes a left back decent team actually yeah when you think about it they're just such good players and we don't see a whole pile of PSG because we don't watch the French League but like it's just an unbelievable team every time you watch them you're excited by them so I think PSG by the odd goal in 90 minutes in 90 minutes no extra time yeah enda I'd be inclined to agree I'd probably go 2-1 PSG do think it'll I think PSG will take the lead early on
the game won't be fantastic. Then Eze would be my go-to for an Arsenal goal from outside the box. I think he'll catch him a little sucker punch and then inevitably someone like Kovacic or Dembele are going to pop up with a goal and kill it off.
Last five minutes. As long as we get a classic. I just want a classic. I don't feel like it's going to be a classic, but I'd like a classic.
One of the things, the key differences between this year and last year is that Gianluigi Donnarumma plays for Man City and they've got Matej Safinov in goal for PSG. And he has looked shaky at times. Now, don't get me wrong, I haven't seen him much in the French League, but he has struggled at times, especially even against Liverpool as well.
They put balls underneath the crossbars and stuff and... Arsenal will definitely do that tomorrow. Giving Arsenal fans a bit of hope here.
In fairness, it is his part-time job between this and being a full-time festival goer. Fair. Is he, eh? No, just look at him.
Oh yeah, true.
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