Champions League: Arsenal down PSG, Man City salute in Slovakia

Arsenal registered a convincing 2-0 win over French giants Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Wednesday (AEST) at the Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners, who settled for a goalless draw with Serie A side Atalanta a fortnight ago, scored within the opening 20 minutes through an impressive Kai Havertz header.

In control of the game, the hosts doubled their lead through a sublime Bukayo Saka free-kick in the 35th minute.

Victory enabled Mikel Arteta’s side to climb to eighth on the table, while PSG dropped to 18th out of 36 teams in the new league phase.

Speaking after the game, the Arsenal boss was full of praise for his team’s display.

“We played one of the best teams in the world,” Arteta said.

“They are super dominant in the league, they have so much quality, understanding and tactical options, and we dealt with it really well, with a lot of personality.

“We were very determined, we wanted to be owning that pitch, playing the way we wanted to and in the first half, I think we were very impressive with the performance and the two goals that we scored.”

Arsenal will host relegation-threatened Southampton this weekend in the Premier League, with top soccer betting sites paying $1.15 for the Gunners to defeat the Saints ($17).

Man City cruise to victory over Slovan Bratislava

Meanwhile, Manchester City thumped Slovak Super Liga champions Slovan Bratislava 4-0 in Slovakia.

The visitors broke the deadlock in the eighth minute through German midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, who returned to the Etihad in the summer after spending last season at Barcelona.

England midfielder Phil Foden doubled their lead seven minutes later, before Erling Haaland added another soon after the restart — his 11th goal of the season.

Academy graduate James McAtee scored in the 74th minute to round off a dominant display by the 2023 champions.

With four points from two games, having registered a goalless draw with Inter Milan in their opener, Pep Guardiola’s men sit fourth on the Champions League standings.

Speaking after the match, Guardiola was forced to address concerns over top scorer Haaland, who was subbed off soon after his goal.

“As a manager I am more secure and more happy when Erling is on the pitch,” the City boss said.

“I will keep him on the pitch all the time but at 0-3 the game was almost over and with this amount of games we have to take care of him.

“He had a big knock last game against Newcastle, so that’s why after 0-3 the fantastic goal with the pass from Rico and after that it’s better.”

City will welcome sixth-placed Fulham to the Etihad this weekend in the EPL, and leading bookmakers have the champions pegged as $1.24 favourites to beat the Cottagers ($11).

Sports news