PSG are set to do something Arsenal have not seen before as Luis Enrique masterplan revealed

Arsenal's statement win under Mikel Arteta arguably came the last time they met Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League. They have beaten Manchester City and Liverpool over the past two seasons, but when it came to Europe this was a standout.

They were happy to play without the ball (holding just 35% of it across the game) yet had more big chances and almost double the xG (expected goals).

In a sense, PSG's possession dominance and passing (647 compared to 354 for Arsenal) was symbolic of Luis Enrique at the time. It was similar to the look of his Spain team which had fallen short at the 2022 World Cup and represented why PSG had gone out to Borussia Dortmund in the semi-finals of the Champions League the year before.

At this stage it was still a team learning to play without Kylian Mbappe and on this occasion also missing Ousmane Dembele. The only real centre-forward in the squad is Goncalo Ramos and he isn't massively trusted. Instead, Enrique went for a team of tricky midfielders and got gunned down.

Arsenal were physical - - and far too smart for a PSG team with an average age almost three years younger. Only Marquinhos was older than 25 in the starting XI, and eight were 24 or under.

Arsenal's own team was hardly old but had not undergone the changes that PSG had over the summer. They were in a state of transition (again), whereas Arteta was growing.

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"I think they are one of the best teams in Europe at the moment,""With the ball they are a team very close to the top European level, and without the ball they are also very good.

"I would even say that they are one of the best teams in the world without the ball. They are a team with a real identity. We are similar but also have different styles of play."

For many, the next time they really saw PSG was against Liverpool in the last-16 four months later. The transformation was stark. This was not the meek and timid side which had no ideas in north London. There was no sense of ill-discipline from Dembele or inexperience. Instead, PSG controlled the match and really should have won.

Alisson's heroics and a late sucker punch meant that the narrative of PSG being a soft-touch when it mattered remained. However, they won over plenty with their speed of football and dynamic movement.

A front three of Bradley Barcola, the unleashed centre-forward version of Dembele, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was scary, and the previously nimble but lacking midfield had energy to burn.

When PSG overcame the Anfield atmosphere in the second leg and dragged themselves through on penalties, they became the people's favourites. Liverpool had been the best team in Europe by a distance up to that point, and PSG had done a job on them.

The defence will surely be the same. Fabian Ruiz will probably come in for Warren Zaire-Emery in midfield, and Dembele will be up front instead of Lee Kang-In. Kvaratskhelia over Desire Doue is the other change.

It is not personnel that will be the most striking difference, though. PSG's pressing is the real standout. They are so far removed from the passive team of recent years because they are no longer bound by Mbappe, Lionel Messi, and Neymar.

Their young team are all willing and clever off-the-ball players. It means that other than the extreme skill on show, PSG are able to do some real damage simply by turning opponents over high up.

Data before the second leg against Villa showed that they had the second most final-third regains in the competition this season with 75. That is 5.8 per game, with two ending in goals and 20 leading to shots. It is once every 16 minutes and is better than in the club's previous two seasons.

They have also forced their opponents to go long more often than not too. Half of opposition goalkeeper open play passes and 58% of goal kicks are over 40-yards. This ranks them at the top and second highest in these metrics.

Their pressures-per-defensive-action (PPDA) has rocketed under Enrique as well. Although there is less to pick between the October meeting and now,. Simply put, PSG are now aggressive and effective when pressing.

Liverpool manager Arne Slot admitted that: "They did exhaust us a bit by constantly pressing us and if you get the ball, sometimes you’re a bit too tired to make the perfect execution.” Enrique also notably said that his side 'forced' Villa to change their game plan to going longer.

Arsenal will have to be prepared for this. Real Madrid, now with Mbappe themselves, had nothing close to an organised plan to stop the ball moving through the thirds. PSG won't just come with this but an active intention to try and create chances from their speed off the ball.

Earlier this season Enrique was honest. Arsenal were "much better in terms of intensity [and] in terms of pressure, they won every duel," he said. "Our defenders failed to anticipate their attackers."

He also took a step into the prescient, suggesting it would "be the same if we play each other again throughout the season." That is now on the horizon and PSG could hardly be any more un-PSG at this stage. Arsenal will need to be ready for it because this PSG in a form we have never seen before.