Jurrien Timber is hopeful that Arsenal’s UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie with PSV Eindhoven will change the narrative around their season, Afrosport reports.
The Gunners have won just one of their last four competitive games (D1 L2) which has seen them out of the EFL Cup and 13 points behind Liverpool in the Premier League title race.
This means the Champions League presents Arsenal with their only realistic chance of winning silverware this season and Timber is hoping they rekindle their form in the league phase which saw them finish third behind Liverpool and Barcelona.
“Yeah, very. I think the motivation is there. It’s an amazing, amazing league to play in. I think we showed as well in the group stages that, yeah, we did really well and that we have a good team and I think tomorrow’s a beautiful game to change the narrative and to win,” the Dutch full-back said.
Despite having injuries to key players in attack, Timber believes Arsenal still have quality in goalscoring.
“I think we have so much quality in our group. Of course, we have a lot of injuries, especially up front, we know that, but I think it’s a beautiful challenge for us as a team to put our front players or anyone in the best position to score goals, and hopefully, we’re going to show that tomorrow,” he added.
On the importance of the defence being solid and keeping a clean sheet, Timber said: “I think it’s always an important thing. But what you said, I think we showed in the group stages, also against bigger teams, that we’re defensively really strong. It’s not just the defence, it’s the whole team. I think that we’ve been working on a lot and yeah, we need it tomorrow definitely as well because they have a lot of good players up front and we have to stop them.”
Back on the big stage
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— Arsenal (@Arsenal) March 3, 2025
Timber has played 36 times in all competitions this season, seven of them in the Champions League.
