Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain are sides with plenty of similarities. The duo are two of the Champions League’s biggest competitors, and have some of Europe’s best young talent; both have Spanish head-coaches and sadly are both experiencing some major injury issues. The clash between the pair at the Emirates Tuesday evening will not feature several of the most well-known players in the squads.

Interestingly, PSG head coach Luis Enrique has a self-imposed limitation on his squad by not bringing Ousmane Dembele with the group to north London. A reported disagreement between the pair following the win over Stade Rennais this weekend led to the decision being made by the former Barcelona coach.

Dembele has been one of PSG’s best players this season and helped to fill the void left by Kylian Mbappe’s absence following his free transfer to Real Madrid in the summer. Enrique is already without a number of attacking players such as Goncalo Ramos, who is out with a long-term issue.

Marco Asensio has been utilised in the forward line but he missed the game with Rennes too and could yet miss the clash tonight although has been included in the squad list, alongside Desire Doue. Other confirmed long-term absentees include Lucas Hernandez and Presnel Kimpembe, with Gianluigi Donnarumma also having missed the last few games – although he and Nuno Mendes have been included in the squad for the trip to London.

Vitinha though should make it back to join a talented midfield of Fabian Ruiz and Joao Neves. PSG, even with their issues, have plenty of talent to call upon and cause the Gunners many issues on the night.

Arsenal will be without Martin Odegaard, Mikel Merino, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu, who are all out with longer-term problems though some may push to return after the next international break. There have been question marks over both Ben White and Riccardo Calafiori, who Mikel Arteta described as being in contention for the game.

However, while Calafiori was present for the open training session, Ben White was not. Both Merino and Tomiyasu made a return, although it would be a surprise to see either involved in the squad for tomorrow’s game – but the chance is increasing. Odegaard has also reportedly made the Norwegian national side aware that he will not be available for the games during October’s international break.

Despite the absences on both sides, it is expected to be a very challenging test for the Gunners. A win would be something of a statement in the competition, beating one of their two Pot-1 opponents – the other being away to Inter Milan in the coming weeks.