Arsenal learn unexpected Champions League advantage as huge boost revealed before PSG second leg

face a monumental task against Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc Des Princes next Wednesday night with their 2024/25 season set to be defined by the outcome.

The French champions have already beaten two English sides in the previous knockout rounds - and that trend continued as Ousmane Dembele's early goal sealed a 1-0 victory for the visitors at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night.

's team had their opportunities with Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli both forcing Gianluigi Donnarumma into smart saves but, equally, PSG could have been out of sight with Goncalo Ramos and Bradley Barcola going close late on.

READ MORE:

READ MORE:

However, as the deficit is only one goal, the Gunners are certainly capable of overturning that. And, for the second leg, a big boost for Arteta has already been made clear while Luis Enrique may have been dealt a huge blow.

. Given the impact his return will have on Declan Rice and Mikel Merino, his importance cannot be understated.

"A strain is a minor muscle injury that affects the muscle's structure," Dubeau told .

"The damage isn't very significant. We're talking about grade one. In terms of downtime, to give an imprecise range, it requires a rest period of 10 to 15 days."

While a huge challenge awaits, a potentially even bigger one will be present in Munich against either Inter Milan or Barcelona. With the latter known for their electric attack and the Italian champions having an elite defence, a tense clash was expected, but that was not even close to what took place on Wednesday night.

After just 21 minutes, Inter were 2-0 ahead at the temporary home of Barcelona - courtesy of goals from Marcus Thuram and Denzel Dumfries - but by half-time the meeting was level following a moment of magic from Lamine Yamal and brilliant team move that was finished off by Ferran Torres.

Dumfries, who had already scored from a corner, grabbed his second of the evening from another set-piece but that lead lasted just one minute - as

No more goals were conceded, but the strengths and weaknesses of both teams were on full display. For Barcelona, their insane high line and lack of dominance from corners will come as a huge boost for Arsenal if they meet Hansi Flick's side in the final.

However, if Inter advance, then it has been very clearly evidenced that their wing-backs are not too defensively savvy and a direct winger running at them is a huge problem. Therefore, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka could get serious joy if the final was Simone Inzaghi's side against the Gunners.

Before even thinking about that, though, Arsenal have to beat PSG on their own patch with that to be far from straightforward. Liverpool were able to do exactly that in the last-16 but they faced an unrelenting onslaught for the bulk of that clash before hitting PSG on the counter in the final knockings.

Currently, given the outcome of both semi-final first legs, Arsenal are likely at the lowest odds to reach the final - but if they do reach that stage, they could feasibly then become the favourites.