Mikel Arteta has made minimal changes for Arsenal’s game against Bournemouth, while Luis Enrique changed all but one of his PSG stars for the meeting against Strasbourg
Mikel Arteta and Luis Enrique have taken wildly different approaches to their domestic fixtures between their Champions League semi-final clash with Arsenal at almost full available strength against Bournemouth on Saturday evening while Paris Saint-Germain made ten changes for their trip to Strasbourg.
Enrique’s side wrapped up another Ligue 1 title last month, meaning they had little tangible to play for at Strasbourg. And the head coach decided to rest all of his big names with only Joao Neves retaining his starting position from their 1-0 win at the Emirates.
Arsenal on the other hand are still looking to confirm a top-five spot to guarantee Champions League football for next season and, with a lengthy injury list, Arteta has not rested anyone with Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka all included against the Cherries.
Thomas Partey, who was suspended for the first leg against PSG, has returned to the midfield with only Mikel Merino and Jurrien Timber stepping out of the starting XI while Ben White has also come in at right back.
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Before the game Arteta was asked if he could see any similarities between PSG and Bournemouth in terms of how they press, with the Arsenal boss saying that they may be ideal league opponents to prepare for the second leg at Parc des Princes on Wednesday night.
“Certainly in terms of intensity and how they approach every duel,” Arteta said. “In the way of playing they are a little bit different. They want to achieve things that are very similar to PSG in certain ways.
“It’s not to practice about them. It’s just to be very efficient and very good in what we have to do against them to play the way that we want.”
Arsenal remain without seven players although Arteta has hinted that one from Kai Havertz, Jorginho and Riccardo Calafiori could be fit enough to head to the City of Love. Havertz has been out since February with a hamstring injury sustained in Dubai but the Germany star is expected to play again this season while Jorginho and Calafiori have both had more short-term issues.
“I wouldn’t rule all of them out,” Arteta said. “Let’s see in the next few days how I feel they react.”
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