'They will destroy Arsenal' - Patrice Evra brutally warns Mikel Arteta full-strength PSG will score FIVE in Champions League final if Gunners 'don't play better football'

The Gunners have gone unbeaten through their run to a first European Cup final since 2006, with Mikel Arteta hoping to see his side make history in Budapest as the grandest of club titles is collected on Hungarian soil.

PSG intend to spoil that party, as they seek to emulate the efforts of Zinedine Zidane’s fabled Real Madrid teams of 2015-2018 by becoming only the second side in the modern era to successfully defend the Champions League trophy.

The Ligue 1 heavyweights have plenty of firepower at their disposal - in the form of fearsome attacking trio Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia - with Arsenal, who conceded just 27 goals during the 2025-26 Premier League season, needing their defence to hold firm if they are to stand any chance of completing a memorable double.

Patrice Evra, who helped Manchester United to three finals in the space of four years between 2008 and 2011 - winning one and losing two - knows from experience how difficult it can be to get over the Champions League-winning line, having come up against the might of Lionel Messi and Barcelona on a couple of occasions.

The former France international fears a team from his homeland may prove too strong for Arsenal, telling GOAL - while speaking in association with Stake - when asked if the Gunners are as good as their recent record suggests: "No, no, no, no, maybe, maybe I talked too early, but it's not because of Arsenal this time it's about PSG.

"I think PSG are dominating the football world and I hope Arsenal will play openly because if they park the bus like they used to do, PSG will put five goals past them like they did to Inter in the final. I was in shock because they are the masters of Catenaccio. In Italy, as soon as you are born, they teach you about the Catenaccio.

"But no, if PSG have all these players - if Ousmane Dembele and all of that are ready, they will destroy Arsenal. But we never know. Now they won the Premier League. I think even for the fans of Arsenal, to be honest, it will be a bonus for them to win the Champions League.

"I don't think they will cry or be disappointed if Arsenal doesn't win this Champions League because they have already done the job, and that was the Premier League. They waited for 22 years. This is the biggest achievement. If they win the Champions League, it will be the cherry on the cake.

"But with PSG, what they are doing and you see the semi-final against Bayern Munich compared to the semi-final against Arsenal and Atletico and don't get me wrong, it's one game. It's one game in the final. Everything can happen. But the style of play and the way I can see PSG, the way they beat Inter, if Mikel Arteta doesn’t have a plan to play better football, they will have no chance. If they want to park the bus, they will have no chance to win the game.

"But everything can happen. My favorite for this game, and with all due respect and love for Arsenal, you know, it will be PSG. But again, PSG, they lost in the Club World Cup against Chelsea. So like I say, in one game, everything can happen."

Arsenal did suffer semi-final heartache at the hands of PSG last season, as they went down 3-1 on aggregate across a two-legged tie. They had, however, seen off Luis Enrique’s side 2-0 at Emirates Stadium in the league phase of European competition.

That proves Arteta has a formula to beat the very best in the business, with it up to the Spanish tactician to come up with another plan that keeps Dembele and Co quiet while allowing the likes of Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard to thrive at the other end of the field.