Other than those pesky goals conceded, this night went about as well as Mikel Arteta could have wished. Not for a moment did the six goal margin Arsenal built for themselves in the first leg look under threat. The opportunity presented itself for him to indulge his unconventional desire to deploy as many left backs as one football team could hold. Best of all, however, the players who really needed to make something of tonight took to their task with gusto.
For Raheem Sterling in particular, this was the last chance saloon. Not in terms of winning a long term future for himself at Arsenal, that ship sailed months ago. We long since passed the point where it was fair to question whether any other Premier League club would be inclined to take on the reclamation project that has proven beyond Arteta this season.
The Sterling that Arsenal borrowed from Chelsea at a knockdown rate in the summer had evidently fallen from his peak but had spent most of the preceding season being an eminently serviceable Premier League winger. This year’s model has lopped a fair wedge off almost every major statistic bar his expected goals (xG) and shots, both of which you would expect to be notably higher as a substitute for Arsenal than a starter for Chelsea.
Beyond what the numbers could tell you, Sterling’s confidence seems to have evaporated since Enzo Maresca concluded he did not even merit a squad place at Stamford Bridge. He no longer relishes going at his full back, when he feels compelled to he tends to come off second best.
That is why tonight will at least serve as a source of personal encouragement for Sterling. For the hour or so until he seemed to run out of petrol, he felt empowered to go at Tyrell Malacia with abandon. The end result was two assists, the first really nothing more than getting the ball to Oleksandr Zinchenko and letting him fly forward and bend a brilliant shot into the far corner.
The second, however, was the Sterling Arsenal were hoping they had gotten in September. Finding space on the right touchline he flew away from the first defender then showed Tyrell Malacia a clean pair of heels. His cross from the byline was crying out for a head to meet it. Declan Rice did so with precision.
Before the half was out he might have had a goal too, Zinchenko finding him on the break as he flew away from the PSV backline. Perhaps his final touch was too heavy, perhaps Walter Benitez was better than the evidence of the past match had suggested. Either way this game would not quite allow him a first Champions League goal in two years, Benitez deflecting another shot wide at the death.
Still, this had been the Sterling that Arsenal needed two months ago, before 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri and repurposed left back Kieran Tierney became more palatable options for Arteta. It is then typical of the season so far for Sterling that this game, at the very least one to build momentum from, comes 20 days before his next competitive fixture, barring a remarkable England call up.
“I was very happy for him and for a lot of individuals as well that they haven’t had a lot of minutes recently,” said Arteta. “You could tell in the second half that we lacked the physical capabilities to make certain efforts and arrive to certain spaces at the right time. But overall, very happy that they got the minutes and they responded.”
For all his manager’s warm words, it is hard to imagine this will be more than the one game where everything clicked for Sterling. Bukayo Saka will be back before too long. Between now and then there won’t be many opponents as hospitable as PSV, rolling out a half fit Tyrell Malacia in a system that demands every player can defend one on one. Sterling is not going to be able to get such separation from any Premier League full back Arsenal comes up against in the next few weeks.
Meanwhile, in his defensive third Sterling still looks lost, a risk to give the ball back to the opposition in the most dangerous spots. Most of all, though, one clunky and unnecessary tackle in the 93rd minute means that even if Arteta were inclined to trust Sterling in the quarterfinal, he will be suspended.
More intriguing might be the performance of Zinchenko. Almost every injury crisis Arteta has faced over the last three years has occasioned calls for moving the Ukraine international into midfield, where he has frequently excelled for his national side. Not until things got really bad — Kai Havertz out for the season bad — has the Arsenal manager been tempted.
This time he got the go from the off and excelled as the auxiliary Martin Odegaard. This was not the ball dominant, play goes through him Zinchenko you might have expected, the inverted midfielder who did not have to get back to his left back berth. Instead this was about getting the ball into the danger area as quickly as possible.
It was not just the brilliant goal, Zinchenko was prepared to push the tempo, perhaps even to a greater extent than the player he was replacing. The role of creator in chief is rarely more challenging than in a scratch XI, but Zinchenko might have ended up with an assist to go with his goal if Merino had showed striker’s instincts when he slipped an Odegaardian ball through the PSV line in the 16th minute.
Again, Zinchenko isn’t breaking into the strongest XI, not with Rice in such outstanding form. Like Sterling, it is hard to envisage much of an Arsenal future for the former PSV man beyond the summer. The clamor has invariably been for Zinchenko to be left eight rather than right, perhaps missing that Arteta wants a particular set of skills from his man on the left of midfield. Few of the qualities of the Ukrainian, who so visibly tires around the hour mark, fit into the low-touch, grass-eating archetype who slots in next to Odegaard.
“At this high level there are different demands,” said Zinchenko. “I said to Martin and Declan, ‘unbelievable, now I realise how much you guys run every three days!’ These are the demands.”
Then again, they might not always be the demands. There are going to be games where a bit more guile next to captain Odegaard is required, occasions like the first half at Old Trafford where Arsenal have more of the ball in the final third than they know what to do with it. On such occasions having another midfielder who has the craft to thread passes into dangerous areas and have a go from range could be of serious value.
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