Arsenal v Paris Saint-Germain: Champions League – live | Champions League

The MegaLeague, as it stands after one round of matches. This is quite sweet, isn’t it.

Mikel Arteta speaks to Amazon Prime. “Very excited … looking forward to it … the kind of scenario we want to be involved in … [the starting team] is the right fit … a lot of quality … physicality … goal threat … everything we are looking for … [PSG coach Luis Enrique is] a very tough opponent … it’s a great test for us … we have to play with a lot of courage and determination … use the crowd … make it a very tough place to be.”

Arsenal and PSG don’t have too much in the way of shared history, but what there is between them favours the Gunners. The clubs met in the semi-finals of the European Cup Winners’ Cup back in 1994: Ian Wright and David Ginola ensured the spoils were shared 1-1 in Paris, then the much-loved Kevin Campbell scored the only goal in the second leg. Arsenal went on to beat Parma in the final. Fast forward to 2016-17 and two games in the Champions League groups: it was 1-1 in Paris again, Edinson Cavani scoring after just 44 seconds, Alexis Sánchez equalising, Marco Verratti and Olivier Giroud receiving their marching orders in added time. The match at the Emirates finished 2-2, Cavani and Giroud scoring in the correct nets, Verratti and Alex Iwobi putting through their own. Both teams went through to the knockouts, and PSG boss Unai Emery joined Arsenal the year after.

Arsenal’s starting XI – and their tweet doesn’t lie – is the same named for the 4-2 nail-biter against Leicester City three days ago. Their new midfield signing Mikel Merino has recovered from injury and is on the bench, waiting to debut for his new club. Ben White remains injured and absent.

There’s no Ousmane Dembélé for PSG. He’s in the doghouse despite scoring four times in six Ligue 1 matches so far this season. Fortunately for the Parisians, Bradley Barcola has six in six to date. Gianluigi Donnarumma returns in goal having missed the last three matches with a thigh problem.

Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Saka, Partey, Rice, Martinelli, Havertz, Trossard.
Subs: Neto, Porter, Gabriel Jesus, Kiwior, Jorginho, Merino, Sterling, Kacurri,
Lewis-Skelly, Nwaneri, Robinson, Butler-Oyedeji.

PSG: Donnarumma, Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Nuno Mendes, Zaire Emery, Vitinha, Neves, Doue, Lee, Barcola.
Subs: Safonov, Tenas, Fabian, Asensio, Muani, Mayulu, Lucas Beraldo, Skriniar, Zague, Naoufel El Hannach, Mbaye.

Referee: Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).

Arsenal could only manage a draw at Atalanta in their first game in the all-new Champions League mega-table stage. PSG by contrast are coming off the back of a 1-0 win over Girona. But with seven games still to play – and nobody really knows how this will pan out until it does – they’re hardly in must-win territory. So is this a big game or not? In strict dramatic terms, no, not really. But it’s still one of the giants of the English game against the leading team in France, and it’ll feel nice to win, so while there’s no full-blown jeopardy for either side tonight, we’re nevertheless in marker-down territory, where victory allied to an impressive performance will augur well for the long road stretching out ahead. Big game, then? Big enough! Kick-off is at 8pm BST. It’s on.