PSV lost to Arsenal in the Europa League on Thursday evening. The people of Eindhoven knew the ranks in London despite great pressure from the Gunners closed for a long time, but in the final phase Granit Xhaka scored the only goal of the match: 1-0. Arsenal (twelve points) is therefore certain of the first two places in Group A, while PSV (seven points) still have to work for that. FK Bodø/Glimt and FC Zurich follow behind with four and zero points respectively.
Van Nistelrooij did not change his basic formation, but did welcome Luuk de Jong, Noni Madueke and Mauro Júnior back to the match selection after a long period of injury. Prior to that, the coach had already announced that the trio would come in at most. Mikel Arteta made the necessary changes on the Arsenal side and eventually put a half B team on the scoresheet. Star players such as Thomas Partey, Martin Ödegaard and Gabriel Martinelli were missing, but Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Jesus did appear at the kick-off.
PSV immediately came under pressure in the Emirates Stadium. Kieran Tierney, the left back of Arsenal, made the first promising attempt after eleven minutes, but hit the ball badly on a volley. Granit Xhaka also didn’t get his foot right behind the ball a minute later in an attempt from ten meters. The most free shooting opportunity followed moments later for Jesus, who could have done more from about seventeen meters than to shoot one meter off. PSV showed itself only once in the first via Xavi Simons, who shot quite far over after a long rush from the center line. In the remainder of the first half, PSV had to fall far back, but managed to deprive Arsenal of real opportunities.
PSV also had to survive in the second half. That initially worked in a number of threatening situations from Arsenal. For example, after a nice combination with Saka from close by, Jesus was unable to give his attempt enough power. The biggest chance of the game came after an hour for Saka, who couldn’t get the ball past Benítez one-on-one. Van Nistelrooij then brought in Madueke, who, like Simons, produced a completely harmless shot on goal.
After 71 minutes, the opening goal fell on the other side. Takehiro Tomiyasu bounced the ball in front of the goal, where Xhaka completed the ball in complete freedom: 1-0. Benítez prevented worse for PSV shortly afterwards, by reversing dangerous bets by Saka and substitute Martinelli. The Eindhoven team could have had a huge chance in the final phase through two substitutes, but Jordan Teze gave bad results to the free De Jong. Eddie Nketiah could have finished it for Arsenal but was blocked by Armando Obispo.