24 minutes: Kai Havertz can’t stop scoring at the Emirates. Now six games in a row.

22 minutes: Hats off to Partey, also for winning the ball, setting up Trossard and Havertz. The 3,000 traveling Parisians had caused the most noise, but now it’s all Arsenal, as you can imagine.

GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 PSG (Havertz 20)

19 minutes: Saka slides Havertz into space on the right. He reaches the byline and throws a cross into the six-yard box. Donnarumma is out of the picture, beaten at his near post, but Rice has not gambled by making a forward run and Hakimi is able to cut clear. A disappointing end to a sharp move from Arsenal.

17 minutes: PSG had 55 percent of the ball possession so far. A measure of how well they have settled in after their somewhat slow start.

16 minutes: Nuno Mendes goes down after running into Saka, who was in no mood to concede. The PSG defender receives quick treatment before getting back up.

14 minutes: Arsenal then move to the other side, Saka crossing deep from the right as Donnarumma cuts confidently. There wasn’t much wrong with the goalkeeper’s thigh, if that jump was anything we could do.

13 minutes: Nuno Mendes sends a simple ball through the middle and Doué is clear. He whistles a low drive, a few centimeters wide of the right post, after which the flag goes up for offside. On Amazon, co-commentator Alan Shearer laments the late whistle, saying it was clearly wrong, but if that had gone in then perhaps VAR should have taken the rulers out.

12 minutes: PSG is starting to establish itself. They string together a few passes and push Arsenal back in the process.

10 minutes: Calafiori shows his worth on the other side of the field. He is almost turned over by Hakimi on the right, but sticks out a leg to concede a corner before a dangerous cross can be delivered. From the resulting set piece, Nuno Mendes fires a wild shot miles to the right of the goal.

9 minutes: The exciting Calafiori steps through the middle and passes to Saka on his right. Saka cuts back into the box and aims a curler to the top left corner. Just too high. Just a little too wide. The first shot of anger tonight flies over the bar.

8 minutes: …but other than that, Arsenal are winning most of the 50-50s. Most of the match is played in the PSG half, albeit away from their goal. Not yet.

6 minutes: Saka dozes 30 yards from his own goal and the ball is taken from him by Barcola, who should speculatively dig from the edge of the penalty area, but pauses in the hope that a better option presents itself. There is no better option available. Arsenal clears the lines.

4 minutes: Fortunately, Donnarumma can move on. He gets up and starts the game again.

3 minutes: Raya goes long through the middle. Very long. Donnarumma comes to the edge of his penalty area to make a confident claim, although he is clattered by the outstretched leg of Martinelli, who was within his rights to compete for the ball. The goalkeeper persists, after which the doctors come to look at the thigh that has kept him out of play for the past three games.

2 minutes: All a bit sloppy during the opening exchanges. Hectic and fast. Then Saka and Havertz threaten to enter PSG’s right behind, but after exchanging passes the flag for offside appears.

PSG kick-off. The 3,000-strong away team supports the noisy style.

The teams are out. Arsenal in the famous red and white, PSG in the first choice blue. A crackling atmosphere in North London, despite the rain falling with extreme prejudice. We’ll be leaving soon, once the fists are bumped, the coins are tossed, and Bukayo Saka takes home the top pennant.

There is already good news for Ligue 1 tonight. Brest has just won 4-0 at Red Bull Salzburg and will be at the Big Table for at least a few hours. Some say this: they have never won a major domestic trophy! Rob Smyth has the details of that, plus news on Stuttgart’s 1-1 draw with Sparta Prague, as part of tonight’s Clockwatch.

Pennant watch. There is nothing wrong with this at all…

…until you see how PSG have taken things several steps further. Poor Marquinhos gets the bum at the merchandise swap tonight.

The MegaLeague, as it looks after one round. This is quite sweet, isn’t it?

Mikel Arteta speaks to Amazon Prime. “Very excited… looking forward to it… the kind of scenario we want to be involved in… (the starting team) fits well… lots of quality… physicality… goal threat… everything we are looking for… (PSG coach Luis Enrique is) a very difficult opponent… it’s a great test for us… we have to play with a lot of courage and determination… use the crowd… make it a very difficult place to be.”

Arsenal and PSG don’t have much shared history, but what is between them is to the Gunners’ advantage. The clubs met in the semi-finals of the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1994: Ian Wright and David Ginola shared the win 1-1 in Paris, with the much-loved Kevin Campbell scoring the only goal in the second leg. . Arsenal defeated Parma in the final. Fast forward to 2016/17 and two games in the Champions League groups: it was 1-1 again in Paris, Edinson Cavani scoring after just 44 seconds, Alexis Sánchez equalizing, Marco Verratti and Olivier Giroud given their marching orders in extra time. The match at the Emirates ended 2-2, Cavani and Giroud scoring in the right net, Verratti and Alex Iwobi scoring their own goal. Both teams advanced to the knockouts and the following year PSG boss Unai Emery joined Arsenal.

Arsenal’s starting XI – and their tweet doesn’t lie – has the same name as the 4-2 nail-biter against Leicester City three days ago. Their new midfield signing, Mikel Merino, has recovered from injury and is on the bench, awaiting his debut for his new club. Ben White remains injured and absent.

There is no Ousmane Dembélé for PSG. He’s in the doghouse despite scoring four times in six Ligue 1 games so far this season. Luckily for the Parisians, Bradley Barcola has six in six so far. Gianluigi Donnarumma returns in goal after missing the last three games with a thigh problem.

Team news

Preamble