Sluggish PSG Hand Arsenal Advantage After Disappointing Draw

Arsenal fans tuning in on Friday night to watch Paris Saint-Germain's fixture with Saint-Etienne will be rubbing their hands with glee going into Tuesday's UEFA Champions League opener.

Not only did the Ligue 1 champions fail to beat Les Verts at the Parc des Princes, but they were dreadful throughout and only helped to make the London club favourites going into the opening group game.

Midway through the second half, Kevin Malcuit was penalised for a push on Blaise Matuidi—a foul that started outside the box, but it made up for the referee's mistake in the first half—and Lucas Moura gave the Parisians a 1-0 lead from the spot.

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Even a narrow victory would have masked the shockingly inept performance from Unai Emery's team, but an injury-time goal from substitute Robert Beric grabbed the away team a much-deserved point.

That exposed the Spanish boss to a whole host of questions going into Tuesday's matchup. Emery told the PSG official website:

"

It’s hard to accept, but I have to stay cool, to analyse this performance. I don’t have anything to say about my players tonight, because I’m responsible for this result. I have to keep working on our tactics and style. The second half showed the way towards getting what I want. We have to find the right balance between attack and defence. I cannot be happy with tonight’s result.

"

PSG were far from at full strength. Team captain Thiago Silva missed the game but is likely to be named in the starting lineup against the Gunners. He hasn’t played a single minute in the league, but the centre of defence is far from the problem, though.

Thomas Meunier, starting in place of Serge Aurier, had a poor game. His marauding runs lacked intelligence, he gave the ball away too often and was out of position for the equaliser.

Attacking full-backs have been a huge feature of Emery's early victories, especially in the Trophee des Champions win over Olympique Lyonnais.

However, that 4-1 win must feel like a lifetime ago after Friday's lacklustre effort.

To make things worse, Layvin Kurzawa—easily PSG's best player this season so far—was forced off at half-time after pulling up following a trademark forward run into Saint-Etienne's penalty area.

Following a forced half-time change, Presnel Kimpembe moved to left-back and Grzegorz Krychowiak came on, with Thiago Motta moving back beside Marquinhos.

Maxwell wasn't involved in the matchday squad due to injury; it’s unclear at this stage if he or the young Frenchman will be able to play from the start on Tuesday.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger would see the left of the PSG back four as a weakness if neither is named on Emery's teamsheet.

In the midfield, Marco Verratti and Blaise Matuidi were easily the best players on the pitch. However, the Italian showed his dark side, picking up a pointless yellow card after chatting back needlessly to the ref after being awarded a foul.

After a hot-headed moment like that, he is just one badly timed tackle away from a red. That may not get punished in Ligue 1, but in the Champions League, as it showed against Manchester City last year, playing without your best players in usually punished.

All those little problems will add up and give Emery a pretty big headache, so he will probably need some painkillers to tackle the issues in the final third.

Edinson Cavani and Angel Di Maria returned from international duty in South America late in the week, so to make sure they are ready for Arsenal, they both began the match on the bench.

In their place, Jese Rodriguez and Hatem Ben Arfa made their first league starts for the club, with Lucas Moura starting on the right.

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Analysing the performance, it's hard to pick out who, between the Spaniard or the Frenchman, had the worse game.

Ben Arfa looked off the pace. He lacked sharpness. He wasn't able to get past his man with the same ease he showed last term, and far too often his passes went astray and he frustrated.

The former Newcastle United man wasn't able to find pockets of space to get the ball where he would want. With Meunier pushing wide, he would come inside, where Saint-Etienne had the majority of their numbers.

Obviously keen to get involved, the 29-year-old was dropping far too deep. Picking up possession in the same areas as Verratti and Motta, there was no room to make things happen.

When he played for Nice, he wouldn't have experienced many teams sitting back the same way that Saint-Etienne did on Friday. No matter who Les Aiglons faced, there would be more space to exploit, more chances to play on the break.

What made it more glaringly obvious that he is far from at his physical peak at the moment was that Friday's performance was against the same team that he ripped apart at a similar stage last season.

He had one excellent chance to score with his left foot, but it lacked direction and conviction, helping Stephane Ruffier make the save.

"He has played in every game," Emery told RMC in France, when asked about Ben Arfa's chances of succeeding in the French capital (via ESPN). "Sometimes more, sometimes less, but he has played every time. He needs to work to improve himself so that if he plays a good 10 minutes, he can play 20 minutes the next time and so on. This is the process. He has to work hard and have the right mentality."

Emery may be under pressure, but his criticism of Ben Arfa was justified on this showing. He didn't even give his boss that 10 good minutes.

There was a brief moment of class early in the second half, the former Lyon star showing quick feet to create a shot on the edge of the box, and he was then quickly fouled to win a free-kick on the edge of the box. It just wasn’t enough.

Cavani came on for Ben Arfa after 67 minutes, and it is possibly only because of Jese's performance that he lasted so long.

The Spaniard was almost invisible, just 23 touches of the ball, per WhoScored.com, and he didn't register a shot on target. It was a long way from the impact he made in the opening game of the season against Bastia.

Emery now has a problem. Unconvincing against the islanders, they found a way to win. Poor against Metz, they got the goals when it counted.

They failed their first test against Monaco, losing 3-1, and now, against a well-organised team, they were fortunate to score from the spot but conceded late on.

Arsenal will offer a whole new level of opposition this week. The Champions League is so important to the Parisians, and it is the only way that Emery's success at the club will be judged.

Lose that game, playing with the same level of malaise that they showed on Friday, and the former Sevilla boss will start to feel the pressure of being in charge of a club with huge ambitions.