PSG<\/a>, who like to play out from the back.<\/p>\nMerino can move back up front<\/p>\n
When Mikel Merino signed for Arsenal last summer, the idea that the Gunners would be desperate to start him as a striker in a Champions League semi-final would have seemed unbelievable.<\/p>\n
But Merino has made the role his own since Arteta turned to him in February after Kai Havertz suffered a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n
The Spaniard has helped Arsenal\u2019s attack to function, especially in Europe, by acting as a focal point.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2209257688.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
With Partey returning to midfield, Mikel Merino will be back up front in Paris<\/p>\n
Arsenal FC via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Merino was most effective in the quarter-finals when Arsenal beat Real Madrid, and he was directly involved in all of their goals from open play over the two legs.<\/p>\n
In last week\u2019s first leg against PSG, the 28-year-old was forced to drop into midfield due to the absence of Partey.<\/p>\n
Merino did a solid job, particularly without the ball, but Arsenal lacked a target man to hit when playing long.<\/p>\n
Leandro Trossard was deployed as a No9 and he does not have the physicality than Merino does.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Arteta will be able to use Merino as a striker and that may prove valuable as one of the best ways for Arsenal to beat PSG\u2019s relentless press is by going direct and long when playing out from the back.<\/p>\n
The Gunners will also have the added benefit of having Trossard as a weapon off the bench, which is a role he has historically done well in.<\/p>\n
Partey can break up play and shield the defence<\/p>\n
It took less than four minutes last week to show Arsenal what they were missing without Partey in the team.<\/p>\n
PSG\u2019s goal had 26 passes, but the most striking element of it was how Ousmane Dembele was able to dribble the ball from inside his own half to just outside the Arsenal box.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/SEI249354250.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Ousmane Dembele exploited space normally protected by Partey when he scored the PSG winner at Emirates Stadium last week<\/p>\n
REUTERS<\/p>\n
Dembele thrived early on by dropping deep away from Arsenal\u2019s centre-backs and into areas that Partey would usually operate in.<\/p>\n
Indeed, for the PSG goal, it is hard to imagine Partey not being there to stop Dembele before he was able to play a one-two with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.<\/p>\n
The return of Partey will give Arsenal\u2019s defence protection and it will also improve the team\u2019s ability on the ball.<\/p>\n
In the second leg against Real Madrid, where Partey picked up the yellow card that led to his suspension, the Ghanaian did not misplace a single pass.<\/p>\n
The 31-year-old coped with the atmosphere at the Bernabeu to give Arsenal some control and a foothold in the game – which is what they will need at the Parc des Princes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After losing to Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final last week, Arsenal boss…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[748,393,4884,12,1144,6544,7580,712,12117,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-78782","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-paris-saint-germain","14":"tag-psg","15":"tag-scotland","16":"tag-thomas-partey","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114460184068914765","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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