PSV won the game against Arsenal in an impressive manner. It was 2-0 in Eindhoven, which means that FC Zurich has actually made it into the intermediate round of the Europa League.

Coach Ruud van Nistelrooij let Armando Obispo, who made a mistake against FC Groningen (4-2 defeat) last Sunday, off the base. Not as a measure, but because the central defender was in pain. Nevertheless, Obispo took a seat on the bench.

Branthwaite replacement

Obispo gave way to Jarrad Branthwaite. In addition, Philipp Mwene replaced Jordan Teze at right-back. Anwar El Ghazi started in place of Guus Til and started from the right. This put Xavi Simons in the lead.

The small, agile attacker did not show himself for the first time this season. In the early stages, Simons challenged Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale and just before the break thought he had put PSV 1-0 up with a fumble goal. El Ghazi, however, was ruled offside shortly before.

It was the second canceled goal of the evening for PSV, who saw a fine Cody Gakpo goal canceled out after a pass from Joey Veerman almost twenty minutes into the game.

After last week’s 1-0 win against PSV, Arsenal weren’t on the field with the strongest 11 names, but they did use goalkeeper Walter Benítez on a couple of occasions before half-time. Among others, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Ødegaard were close to a London goal.

In the second half, PSV slowly but surely took the initiative with substitute Luuk de Jong. Simons and Gakpo could almost cheer. In the end it was Veerman who fired a good left-footed shot on De Jong’s pass to make it 1-0.

The leadership gave self-confidence and after more than an hour it was even 2:0. Arsenal keeper Ramsdale tried to clear a corner from Gakpo but missed the ball completely. De Jong didn’t and banged his head.

Shortly after, Gakpo appeared to be 3-0 up, but for the third time that night a PSV goal was ruled out for offside. Meanwhile, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta brought in strong defending champions like Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Jesus.

Edward Nketiah almost reignited tension after a De Jong header, but Benítez made a clever save. The 2-0 remained on the board and that caused an explosion of joy in the Philips Stadium.

Because number three FK Bodø/Glimt lost 2-1 at FC Zurich, PSV as number two is already safe for the intermediate round of the Europa League.

Next week could be even better, with a win in Norway and Arsenal losing a point against FC Zurich, PSV top their group and move into the last 16. Londoners will certainly want to avoid that.