Koscielny Explains Why Arsenal Let Lead Slip

Laurent Koscielny has attempted to explain why Arsenal failed to beat Paris Saint-Germain at the Emirates on Wednesday.

After going behind to Edinson Cavani’s opener the Gunners took the lead through an Olivier Giroud penalty and an own goal by Marco Verratti.

However, an Alex Iwobi own goal gave the visitors a point in a 2-2 draw and put them in control of Group A ahead of their final round of games.

Koscienly feels Arsenal stopped pressing after taking the lead and dropped back, allowing PSG back into the game

“We were able to create danger in their own half so it was better for us to press high, but after the second goal we stopped pressing and dropped a little bit,” he told Arsenal Player. “We gave them lots of opportunities which is why we conceded the corner and then conceded the goal.

“We tried to win but we conceded the second goal and I think that killed us. We pressed hard in the last 10 minutes of the first half and first 15 or 20 minutes of the second half, and they were in trouble because they lost so many balls in their own half.”

Don't Miss:

However, Koscielny has not yet given up hope of finishing as group winners ahead of their final fixture away at Basel, while PSG welcome minnows Ludogorets to Parc des Princes.

“We have a lot of big teams in this competition now and a lot of great teams finish second, so it’s difficult to know,” he added. “We will see what happens in the draw but first we have to finish the job well.

“They have a game against Ludogorets and we are playing Basel, so we will see. We want to finish first because then our second leg will be at home, so we want to win our last game to give us the best chance of finishing first.”

In truth PSG had the better of the chances late on and could have won the game, with Edinson Cavani guilty of missing some great opportunities, on a disappointing night for the Gunners.