The final will be a repeat of last season’s semi-final, which PSG won 3-1 on aggregate.
In the first leg last season, Mikel Arteta indirectly admitted to getting his pressing shape wrong. In the first 20 minutes, Arsenal’s 4-4-2 shape was exposed by PSG’s rotations.
Ousmane Dembele dropped into midfield and alongside the midfield three helped PSG outnumber Arsenal in the centre of the pitch. It was during this period that PSG scored the opener at Emirates Stadium, giving them a lead to defend.
Arteta will go into the final being aware of the positional freedom Luis Enrique affords Dembele, and provisionally may opt for the defensive tweak that worked well last season – a 4-2-3-1 shape with Odegaard deeper to support his midfield.
Despite leaning into fast attacks more often this season, Arsenal have found their most joy dominating the ball high up the pitch. Atletico sat back for large parts of their semi-final bout against Arteta’s side, but had their best spells pressing Arsenal high and early.
Similarly, PSG will look to disrupt Arsenal’s possessional dominance by pressing high, likely in a man-to-man fashion. The intensity from players like Dembele, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Desire Doue up top will look to force Arsenal into early turnovers and big chances of their own, or long balls, betting on the likes of Marquinhos and Willian Pacho to win aerial duels.
With aerially-dominant Mikel Merino out and Kai Havertz returning to full fitness, if it is Gyokeres set to battle with the PSG defenders, making the ball stick might be a tougher ask for Arsenal.
Against Bayern, PSG often defended in a man-to-man fashion. If this happens against Arsenal, the Gunners may look for runners in behind after pulling central defenders deeper through attacking movements of their own.
Alternatively, PSG may set up to defend deeper if Arsenal are able to dominate the ball like they did last season.
In those games, Gianluigi Donnarumma was in goal, and his individual brilliance saved PSG on a number of occasions. With Matvey Safonov in goal for PSG this season, defending deep suddenly becomes a riskier option.
This article is the latest from BBC Sport’s Ask Me Anything team.
