Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta says Tuesday’s Champions League last 16 first leg away at PSV Eindhoven will create a ‘different energy’ for his team after their recent Premier League slump.
The London club arrived in the Netherlands with their Premier League title hopes hanging by a thread after falling 13 points behind leaders runaway Liverpool.
“It’s a game that obviously brings a different energy, keeps everyone on their toes,” Arteta told reporters on the eve of the clash in the Philips Stadion.
“What is ahead is a team that has eliminated Juventus. We played them a lot in recent years, so we know the challenge.”
Arsenal played PSV twice in the group stages last season, winning 4-0 at home and drawing 1-1 away.
They will need no reminding though that the last time they played the 25-times Dutch title winners in the knockout phase of the Champions League they were eliminated, losing 1-0 away before being held to a 1-1 draw at The Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal have been deprived all their recognised forwards in recent weeks with Kai Havertz and Gabriel Martinelli joining long-term injured Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Jesus on the sidelines. They failed to score in their last two Premier League games, losing 1-0 to West Ham United and then drawing 0-0 with Nottingham Forest at the weekend.
PSV have hardly been in great form themselves either with one win in their last seven Eredivisie games leaving them trailing rivals Ajax Amsterdam.
But Arteta said the respective form of each side will not influence Tuesday’s clash.
“Whatever the situation in the league when you come to this stage of the Champions League it’s something else, you feel it in the atmosphere and the energy,” the Spaniard told reporters.
“You play and you are in or you are out and that gives you urgency and it gets the best out of you for sure.
“Results vary in football, what I care about is how they play; focusing on their weaknesses and how to beat them.”
Arsenal’s former Ajax defender Jurrian Timber said Tuesday’s clash was an opportunity to change the narrative.
“It’s an amazing competition to play in and we did really well in the league phase,” he said. “I don’t see (recent struggles) as a negative but we have been through a lot.
“It’s a challenge for us and we have to take it.”
