No Arsenal centre-backs or Rice in combined Gunners and PSG XI… | OneFootball

There’s no Declan Rice or Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in the Arsenal/PSG combined XI based on player grades in the Champions League this season…

Gooners will also be stunned to see that neither of their centre-backs have made the selection.

There is method to the madness, though. This XI has been selected based on each players’ individual overall grade in the Champions League this season.

‘What are these grades?’, you ask…

Gradient’s Player Grades measure execution rather than outcome. The grading process begins with Gradient’s team of analysts evaluating over 2,000 events per game – everything a player does during a match from aerial duels to dribbling to set-piece shooting, and everything in between.

Each event is graded on a scale of -2 to +2 in 0.5 increments; 0 representing expected execution, positive or negative grades are awarded for a performance that is better or worse than expected. Those grades are then translated into an easy to understand 0-100 game and season rating across over 50 grading categories, including an overall performance grade.

Based on those grades, here is the best Arsenal/PSG combined XI…

GK: David Raya (Arsenal) – 88.9

The Arsenal stopper (and winner of the Golden Glove…again) has the fourth-highest grade among all Champions League goalkeepers, with PSG’s Matvey Safanov way down in 42nd on 63.7 – an area the Gunners can exploit? Safanov missed six group games before eventually establishing himself as the preferred option to Lucas Chevalier, who was signed to replace Gianluigi Donnarumma. The highest-graded goalkeeper: Thibaut Courtois on 95.7.

RB: Jurrien Timber (Arsenal) – 77.8

An ankle injury has kept Timber out of Champions League action since the last 16, but he did enough before that – especially through a perfect group stage for Arsenal – to comfortably see off Achraf Hakimi (65.3). The concern for Arsenal here, though, is whether Timber will recover his fitness in time for the final, with Ben White (64.6) facing the prospect of trying to stop Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

LB: Nuno Mendes (PSG) – 84.4

Arsenal have chopped and changed at left-back, with Myles Lewis-Skelly (68.2) playing all but one game through the group stage, but Mendes has been an ever-present for PSG on the way to establishing himself as the second-highest graded full-back in this season’s competition, behind only Bodo/Glimt’s Fredrik Sjovold.

CB: Marquinhos 82.1

The 31-year-old was outstanding for PSG in their semi-final second leg at Bayern Munich, not quite pocketing Harry Kane, but certainly subduing the England striker. It helps that PSG have almost kept Marquinhos back for the Champions League, the defender playing only once in Ligue 1 in the last three months while starting the last 13 in Europe.

CB: Willian Pacho 79.4

Few might quibble with Marquinhos’s inclusion, but Arsenal fans right now will be fuming over the exclusion here of both Gabriel and William Saliba. With both on the pitch, Arsenal haven’t conceded in open play in the Champions League since the quarter-final defeat to Bayern Munich in 2024 – a run that stretches over two years and 16 matches. But perhaps their strength is in the partnership, since individually, Gabriel is graded at 65.6 and Saliba 62.3 in the Champions League, lower than their 73 and 69.1 scores respectively in the Premier League.

CM: Vitinha (PSG) – 86.7

The Portugal star is the highest-graded central midfielder in the Champions League this season. Few would quibble with that, right? Assuming Declan Rice is next to him. Wait…

CM: Warren Zaire-Emery (PSG) – 81.2

Rice is out with a score of 74 making him the 29th most effective central midfielder in the Champions League, whereas Zaire-Emery has the fourth-highest grade. The 20-year-old’s performance at right-back in Munich ought to make him one of the best full-backs too. Rice will have to make do with being the second-highest graded central midfielder in Europe for domestic league performances.

AM: Eberechi Eze (Arsenal) – 78.3

PSG tend to play 4-3-3 so Eze has an almost unchallenged place in this XI, especially with Martin Odegaard missing most of Arsenal’s Champions League campaign to date. Who starts in the final?

RW: Bukayo Saka (Arsenal) – 81.5

Saka, the fifth-highest graded winger in this season’s Champions League, edges out Desire Doue (80.5 – the eighth-highest) despite the PSG youngster offering a goal contribution every 83 minutes compared to Saka’s 120 minutes.

LW: Gabriel Martinelli (Arsenal) – 81.5

No Kvaratskhelia?! Apparently not. Despite the PSG star (77.0) recording 16 goal involvements in 15 games while becoming the first player to offer a goal or assist in seven consecutive knockout matches, Martinelli gets the nod. Perhaps because he’s performed a higher percentage of his actions above expected compared to Kvaratskhelia. Even though the Georgian has been far more involved. Look, we’re as surprised as you are…

CF: Ousmane Dembele (PSG) – 68.8

It is rather less of a shock to see the Ballon d’Or holder see off Gyokeres (63.9), around whom the narrative has shifted of late, from fraudy flop to ‘yeah, fine’. Neither, though, features among the top 27 centre-forwards, topped by Harry Kane (87.7)