ARSENAL are in the Netherlands this evening for the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie against PSV Eindhoven.
They come into it on the back of a lacklustre draw with Nottingham Forest on Wednesday as their last outing in all competitions since they didn’t have any FA Cup game at the weekend.
In the continued absence of Bukayo Saka, too much has fallen on Martin Odegaard to provide enough creativity for the whole team[/caption]
The London giants finished third in the overall table during the league phase with their most recent fixture being a 2-1 win away to Girona on January 29.
Their Dutch foes currently lie second in the Eredivisie table – trailing Ajax by eight points.
Saturday saw them get knocked out of their domestic cup over two legs by Go Ahead Eagles.
They did finish a decent 14th though across this competition’s league phase.
Here’s everything you need to know about how to catch tonight’s first leg from your couch:
What Irish TV channel is PSV vs Arsenal on?
The match will be shown on Premier Sports 1 so it will be available to stream via Now TV.
For those north of the border it’ll only be available through Amazon Prime.
Kick-off from the Philips Stadion will be at 8pm Irish time.
What are the odds?
The home side are 14/5 to win on the night whereas Mikel Arteta’s men are fancied at 19/20.
A draw is set at 12/5.
What’s been said in the build-up?
Tottenham old boy Ivan Perisic has taunted Arsenal ahead of their “big moment”.
The PSV winger claims the modern Gunners are “always missing something” – after going five years without silverware.
The Croatian legend, 36, said: “It’s going to be tough. They are a really, really good team, a young team with a good coach.
“But over the last years they are always missing something to step up to win something.
“I know we’re going to have a good chance to beat them.
” I really believe in my team. Tactically we have to be at the top level to show something good against them.”
Arsenal co-owner Josh Kroenke visited their London Colney training ground on Monday, before the squad flew to Eindhoven for the tie.
It follows a damaging week in the Prem title race – collecting just one point from games against West Ham and Nottingham Forest to leave the North Londoners 13 points off leaders Liverpool.
Asked about Kroenke’s visit, Arteta said: “I am very happy to have him around. He is around a lot of times for big moments.
“He really wants to be with the team and it is great to have him.”
