Arsenal’s defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the final of the Champions League last season still stings.

The Gunners took an early lead against Luis Enrique’s side in Budapest through Kai Havertz. They deployed a low block from that point and absorbed the pressure for large parts of the game.

PSG, despite their terrifying attack, struggled to break Arsenal down. In the end, a penalty conceded by Cristhian Mosquera inside the box brought them back into the game, and they eventually won it in a penalty shootout.

Everyone talks about the style of play employed by the two managers in that game, but what nobody is ready to discuss is how fresh the two sets of players were.

Almost every Arsenal player was absolutely knackered, while most of the PSG squad looked fresh. That could once again be the case this season.

How far will Arsenal go in these four competitions after winning the Community Shield?🏆

PSG announce ‘period of rest’ for Ousmane Dembele and Nuno Mendes

Arsenal have the best squad in the Premier League, but they still can’t rest and rotate their players at will.

Injuries always make things difficult, while the quality of the English game every week is so high that managers almost always choose to go with their best team.

For PSG, that isn’t always the case. Enrique has the luxury to rest his key players whenever he wants because they are by far the richest and most dominant team in Ligue 1.

Back in August, the French champions announced that Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembele would be given a period of rest and was thus ruled out of the game against Lille. (PSG’s official website)

Now, less than two months later, Dembele, along with Nuno Mendes, has been given another break and will sit out the game against Le Mans. (PSG on X)

Every club in Europe are free to do what they want, and PSG are no different. The fact that they can rest their key players domestically as and when they please is a luxury, and they would be silly not to use it.

However, that should be taken into consideration when the Parisians are getting all the praise in the world for winning back-to-back Champions League titles.

At no point last season did Arsenal have the luxury of resting their key players in the Premier League in order to keep them fresh for the European games. The likes of Declan Rice and William Saliba were both knackered and were carrying knocks as a result.

Arsenal are in a much better place to rest those key players this season, but it’s still extremely unlikely that someone like Rice will be given some time off ahead of a Premier League game. It just can’t happen because of the difficulty of the league.

For that reason, Arteta and the Arsenal players have every right to be angry at the luxury PSG have following their latest announcement. It just doesn’t feel like a level playing field, but there’s nothing the Gunners or any other English club can do about it.