Former Arsenal star explains why Bukayo Saka found it harder than usual against PSG | OneFootball

Former Arsenal defender Matthew Upson has explained why Bukayo Saka struggled to see as much of the ball as he usually does last night.

The Gunners were disappointing as they lost 1-0 at home to Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final tie.

Saka was far from the only player not at their best at the Emirates Stadium yesterday evening, but he’s often the one key man they look for to give them some inspiration in attack.

Ex-Gunner Upson feels that one problem for Saka yesterday was the absence of Thomas Partey in midfield.

The Ghana international was suspended for this game, and it meant Mikel Arteta had to change things around in midfield.

Thomas Partey in action for Arsenal (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

Arsenal’s midfield shape had a negative impact on Bukayo Saka

Upson feels that Partey not playing had a knock-on effect on basically the whole team, as it meant the other midfielders will have been in slightly different roles than usual.

That in turn meant things didn’t flow as well in terms of getting the ball to Saka so that he could have the kind of influence he usually does.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, Upson said: “You could look at Thomas Partey not being there as a reason as to why [Bukayo] Saka wasn’t getting the ball.

“I don’t want to go too deep into why Partey is important but it was more the balance. Playing with a different type of feel and balance can disrupt the way you feed those key players the ball.”

Can Arsenal turn this game around?

Arsenal are only 1-0 down on aggregate, so there’s surely going to be an opportunity for them to turn things around at the Parc des Princes in a week’s time.

AFC will have Partey back for that game, though they remain without a number of other key players due to injury.

All three of Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Magalhaes are still out for the rest of the season, and it seems that missing Partey last night was just one problem too many.