Thank you very much for joining me.
Portuguese rugby expert Nick Ames has your match report from the Emirates.
Martin Odegaard: “You saw the motivation straight from the start. To be back in this competition is great for the club.
“We’re in this competition to compete, to fight to go all the way. We must keep going.
“I was eager to get on the scoresheet.
“Before the game, you could feel it was a special game for everyone. We have to thank the fans for everything they do for us.”
Updated
We have an exclusive …
Torgrim Svensen says: “When Martin signed for Arsenal I told his uncle Thomas that I didn’t think Martin was the right fit. What whisky were you pondering?”
There’s a few on the shelf. Maybe the Sexton single malt.
Full time! Arsenal 4-0 PSV
Arsenal were slick and far too good for PSV. The Dutch side were a touch naive with their play and the Gunners had the quality to take advantage of it.
Updated
90+1 mins: My Dutch neighbours are watching Bayern v United rather than PSV. More Ten Hag than Eindhoven people.
90 mins: Three minutes added on.
De Jong off, Pepi on.
Updated
88 mins: BOOKING! Schouten cautioned for pulling back Havertz, who showed a lovely touch.
86 mins: Everyone is off home at the Emirates because this game is done and dusted. The stadium has gone quiet.
84 mins: Arsenal are passing it around the the back as the seconds tick by as I debate a post-match whiskey.
82 mins: I am not saying this game has become tedious but the commentators have already moved onto who will play for Arsenal at the weekend.
80 mins: BOOKING! Tillman goes in late on Jorginho for little to no reason and is cautioned.
78 mins: Lozano tries to find a teammate in the box but Gabriel is there to block it.
PSV bring on Ramalho and Vertessen, Bella-Kotchap and Lang off.
76 mins: Vieira whips in a corner from the right but it is once again head away by PSV.
Rice heads off, Jorginho comes on.
74 mins: The Gunners are just knocking it around for fun. Havertz has a go from inside the box but it is deflected wide.
72 mins: Arsenal have a fresh front four after the changes and are looking to add a few more goals.
GOAL! Arsenal 4-0 PSV (Odegaard, 70)
What a player he is. The Arsenal captain receives the ball 22 yards from goal, he looks like he might shoot first time but shifts it instead to the left and whacks a low drive into the corner.
Updated
70 mins: Lang shows some more skill to dink the ball over White and get to the byline before pulling a cross back but Arsenal clear.
68 mins: Raya kicks the ball straight out of play again. Some first night jitters for the Spaniard.
Smith Rowe and Vieira are readying themselves on the sidelines. They replace Jesus and Saka.
66 mins: PSV changes incoming. Tillman and Lozano are on. Bakayoko and Saibari off.
64 mins: Once again, Arsenal are more than happy to slow things down.
Updated
62 mins: Saka whips in a corner from the right. It lands on the edge of the six-yard box but no one in red and white is there to meet it, allowing PSV to clear.
Arsenal attack again. Nelson does well to win the ball on the left, he picks out Havertz, whose cross is turned behind by Jesus.
60 mins: Bakayoko sends in another cross that is easily caught by Raya. The bloke is in bright green, they really should not be aiming for him.
58 mins: Arsenal changes incoming. Nelson and Tomiyasu are on, Trossard and Zincheko depart.
57 mins: Arsenal are slowing things down here. They do not want to overexert themselves.
De Jong is moaning that Rice caught him on the foot but it was not close to being a foul. The Dutchman shouts at Rice who naturally points out De Jong is a tosser.
55 mins: Lang, PSV’s main man, has some space to run into but decides to cut inside, before slipping a pass between defenders to Bakayoko. He takes a touch and looks to curl the ball around Raya but he gets his angles wrong and his shot goes straight into the goalkeeper’s arms.
53 mins: Lang and Dest are having an impact down the left, causing White and Saka problems but without the final ball required.
51 mins: Odegaard lifts a pass into the path of Jesus. He takes a fine first touch but his second sees him run into Bella-Kotchap.
Matt Kurton on multisporting: “Overenthusiastic ticket ordering before last year’s Commonwealth games in Birmingham meant my family and I drove the 100+ miles to Birmingham to watch mountain biking on one day, before a Speed-style chase around the city the following day that began with morning hockey, moved on to lunchtime diving heats and ended with athletics, in seats so high the couple next to us asked to move because looking down the stairs was making them feel ill. I should also apologise to the para-powerlifters, who we had tickets to see in the late afternoon but didn’t make it to. Still, four out of five isn’t bad.”
49 mins: BOOKING! Boscagli slides into Jesus from the side and gets a yellow card for his troubles.
47 mins: Lang shows quick feet once more to get away from Saka and then White. He makes his way into the box but falls over inside the area. He wants a penalty but that is certainly not happening.
Second half
Here we go again!
Elsewhere … Jude Bellingham is quite good.
Another multi-talented sportsman. Danny Whybrow emails: “When I was but a whelp I played hooker for the school XV - Saturday 10:30 ko and we were based at the local rugby club. A couple of cheeky pints in the clubhouse and then up the road to play left back for the mighty Carlton Athletic at 2 o’clock. We got a shoeing but I remember thinking this was not only entertaining but viable. I then retired from sport at 19.”
Tobias Peggs says: “As a teenager in the 80s growing up in Devon, I played age group football for Mayflower FC (beautiful red and white stripy kit), and was also in a swim team called Plymouth Leander (pretty terrible canary yellow and blue colours). Regularly, Saturdays would involve tearing up my hammies on a muddy field, faithfully following the Charles Hughes blueprint of the day (lump it up front to the big man), before hot footing over to the local swimming pool and banging out a backstroke race. Once I remember having a big long gash on my leg from a sliding tackle that must have been over some stones (great pitches in those days!), that was caked in mud, and only became apparent when I was in the water later that afternoon, at the starting blocks... as the blood started forming a bright red cloud in my lane. We were less concerned about health and safety in those days, obviously, and I seem to remember doing quite well in that race. And the scar is still visible, now in my 50s!”
Half time: Arsenal 3-0 PSV
It’s been a pretty one-sided first half thanks to a massive gulf in quality between the two sides. The game, as a contest, is very much over. Arsenal fans will be loving life back in the Champions League.
45 mins: Two minutes added on.
44 mins: BOOKING! White goes into the book for tripping up Dest by grabbing his boot near the halfway. A needless yellow card considering the situation. Not the smartest move from White.
42 mins: To be fair to PSV, they have supposedly had eight shots (two on target) but they are yet to really test Raya.
40 mins: PSV could be a touch smarter in how they play. They must be full of confidence after 26 matches unbeaten but they need not be so bold in their style, it is not helping them against superior opposition.
GOAL! Arsenal 3-0 PSV (Jesus, 38)
Just in case you thought it wasn’t over as a contest, it is now. Trossard gets down the left and picks out Jesus at the back post. He takes a touch and whacks a shot across Benitez into the corner.
Updated
38 mins: The next corner reaches Bella-Kotchap but he cannot direct his header on target.
36 mins: PSV whip in a corner from the left to the back post but Saliba gets to the ball first and flicks it away for another corner.
34 mins: Raya kicks the ball straight out of play after Arsenal spend a good minute slowing the game down.
32 mins: More good work from Lang down the left, he jinks in and out making life difficult for White. He earns himself space for a cross, which hits Saliba but ends up in Raya’s arms.
30 mins: The camera pans to Ramsdale on the bench and he looks a little glum, to say the least.
28 mins: The good news for PSV is that Lang’s price tag should go up over the next few months if he continues to look decent in the Champions League. Take the positives.
26 mins: Another chance for Jesus. He twists and turns inside the box and takes aim for the top corner but Benitez does well to push the ball wide for a corner.
Saka’s corner goes over everyone, eventually hitting Gabriel on the arm at the back post and going wide.
24 mins: PSV enjoy an attack but it ends with a Teze cross that ends up in Raya’s hands.
Down the other end … Jesus jags in and out before firing a lot shot that is saved by Benitez’s feet.
Joe Pearson is staying across things, so I don’t have to. “I’m watching one of those shows that goes from match to match. In the Benfica v RB Salzburg match, Benfica managed to clear a Salzburg effort off the line... but with an outstretched hand. Red card. Penalty. RB leads 1-0.”
Sounds fun.
22 mins: Havertz is the latest to have a shot. There is some neat play on the edge of the box from the German, whose neat footwork earns him enough space for a shot but he lifts his effort over.
This is a reminder of the gulf in class and finance between the Premier League and other European nations.
GOAL! Arsenal 2-0 PSV (Trossard, 20)
Saka takes Arsenal up the pitch, dribbling into space down the right after receiving the ball from Jesus. The winger gets to the area where he stops and picks out Trossard, who fires the ball into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
Updated
18 mins: Trossard lifts a cross to the back post but Jesus seems to get confused and it ultimately comes off his back and goes out for a goal kick.
Most of the positives for PSV seem to involve Lang. He is the man they want on the ball.
Eagle Brosi says: “For the goal- Kai Havertz had two defenders marking him and no one seemed to be bothering with what Saka was doing.
“Did PSV not do their homework?”
Luring them into a false sense of security.
16 mins: Rice nips in to end a potential PSV attack and then calm lays the ball off to a team. That is what he is there for.
14 mins: It’s been a very lively start in north London.
Lang sends in a couple of crosses from the left but are easily dealt with by the Arsenal defence.
12 mins: It really should be 2-0 to Arsenal. After some good buildup play, the ball goes out to White, who fires a cross along the six-yard box but Jesus misses the ball instead of tapping home.
PSV are looking very flustered. They are trying to play out from the back but are struggling with Arsenal’s press. They do, however, make it down the other end and a cross goes into the box. The PSV players appeal for handball … and they might have a case. It flicks his outstretched arm but VAR does not think it is a penalty.
10 mins: “Though I support Arsenal,” says Kári Tulinius. “I have a nostalgic longing for Eindhoven to do well. I started following football in 1988 and the great European Cup winning team of that year will always evoke fond memories for me. It seem impossibly distant in time that a club of the size of PSV could be champions of Europe.”
GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 PSV (Saka, 8)
Arsenal have been on top since the first whistle. Odegaard has a shot towards the near post, forcing Benitez to parry into the path of Saka, who fires across the goalkeeper into the corner.
Updated
6 mins: Zinchenko volleys the ball high up in the air and across the edge of the Arsenal box. Saliba looks a little uncertain at how to deal with it but in the end, he and White work together to avoid danger. I would not advise Zinchenko to do that again.
4 mins: A lovely pass between two PSV defenders from Odegaard almost finds Saka but Boscagli intervenes before the Arsenal winger can collect the ball.
Updated
2 mins: It took two goes to do a legitimate kick off. Hopefully things will improve.
Lang looks lively on the left. He dribbles and then cuts inside before shooting towards the near corner but Raya gets down well.
Kick off
Peep! Peep! Peep! Here we go!
The Arsenal fans cheer the start of the Champions League anthem. How quaint.
Bruno Giordan offers: “7 August 2012: Volleyball in Earl’s Court, then a rush across London to the Olympic Park for the BMX
”31 August 2012: Goalball in the Copperbox, then a leisurely stroll across the park to the Wheelchair Basketball.
“So much sport in such a short time, though mostly restricted to one a day.”
A big day out x2.
Russell Homer has a fine double day: “May 2013 Premiership Final at Twickers and hoofed it to station on final whistle. Across London to Wembley for Bayern-Dortmund ECL final (best atmos. at a football match that I’ve been to).”
The teams are in the tunnel before heading out to a wet Emirates, which is enjoying a light show.
Jeff Necessary has more info for us: “One further detail. Once in November we had a football and basketball game scheduled on the same day, which has never happened before or since; the logistics of getting one crowd off campus and another one on three hours later are insurmountable (no Tube there). At halftime of the football game, which started at 1 p.m., we led 42-0 (think 6-nil in a Premier League match, or worse). I ran into the basketball coach at halftime and told him we probably wouldn’t have 42 points at halftime of his game. We didn’t; it was 32-29.”
I assume it would be advisable to talk about the match. I am very excited to see David Raya starting, meaning he has gone from playing for Southport in the National League to being Arsenal’s No 1 in the Champions League.
Michael Chilcott offers: “In 2010 I ran the Oxford Town and Gown 10k in the morning, then my dad drove me up to Wembley to watch Oxford batter York City in the Conference Play-off Final. Pretty sore legs by the end of it, but worth every minute. Just looked up my time and I ran a respectable but unremarkable time of 57:36, and ran it in swim shorts because I couldn’t find my running shorts.”
I hope you did not wear the shorts to the match.
“I worked for the university athletic department when I was in school,” says Jeff Necessary, “and with 14 sports at our school at that time, it was not uncommon for me to have to attend two events in one day, particularly in the spring. Baseball game in the afternoon, basketball at night, things like that.”
A fine job.
Harriet Osborn has a near miss: “The closest I’ve ever gotten is attending baseball (Texas Rangers, awful loss) and then returning to the hotel room to catch the end of a Concacaf Nations League match broadcast (US Men, nice win in a dead rubber).
“And speaking of the US men, I know it’s been PSV’s way all season but it is striking for us USMNT fans to see Dest being the only starter of the three Americans in the squad tonight. Pays to be useful in the club’s thinnest position!”
USA! USA! USA!
“Not sure if this fits the bill,” we will take what we can get, Matt Fortune, “but pretty chuffed to have ticked off Goodison in a lunchtime kick-off (Arsenal’s last game pre-Arteta) and then hot-footed across the Mersey to Prenton Park for Tranmere v AFC Wimbledon at 3pm.
“I say ‘chuffed’, when really it was perhaps the worst day of sport I’ve ever witnessed in person - a 0-0 and a 1-0. Yuck.”
Are we claiming the Premier League is a different sport to League Two?
Nathan Phillips knows how to have a good time: “Well Will, I recently attended the Beer City Cup, the largest adult amateur soccer tournament in the US, before attending a minor league (4th tier) baseball game. The beer was great.”
I am a huge fan of this.
Joe Pearson emails: “I remember many years ago, a group of friends drove down to Cincinnati. We spent the afternoon at River Downs, betting (and losing) on the horses. Then the evening was spent at Riverfront, watching the Reds baseball team. I can’t remember if they won or lost (beer may have been involved). Does that count?”
I will take it.
Get in the Champions League mood with Niall McVeigh telling you it is about to become rubbish.
I am here immediately after doing a rugby minute-by-minute, so I ask you … when have you attended two different sports in one day?
Arteta is excited.
Starting lineups
Arsenal: Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Odegaard, Rice, Havertz; Saka, Jesus, Trossard
Subs: Ramsdale, Hein, Smith Rowe, Kiwior, Cedric, Tomiyasu, Jorginho, Fabio Vieira, Nelson, Elneny
PSV: Benitez; Teze, Bella-Kotchap, Boscagli, Dest; Saibari, Schouten, Veerman; Bakayoko, L De Jong, Lang
Subs: Drommel, Waterman, Sambo, Ramalho, Tillman, Pepi, Til, Babadi, Lozano, Van Aanholt, Vertessen
Updated
Preamble
The Champions League is back at the Emirates. This is everything Mikel Arteta and the lads have been waiting for. I assume there will be tears in the stands and smiles on the pitch now the Gunners are back among the elite. Hosting PSV is a decent place to start: they are a team with a long European history but should be very beatable for a side that challenged for the Premier League title last season.
PSV, as pretty much always, have a very exciting group of young players, who will be looking to make their mark on the biggest stage in the hope of securing a massive move next summer. Johan Bakayoko and Noa Lang are two of the most interesting players, eager to make a mockery of the Arsenal full-backs.
Kick-off: 8pm BST
Updated
