Arsenal's immovable object meets the unstoppable force of Paris Saint-Germain in Saturday's Champions League final, offering a pronounced clash of styles.

Holder PSG's flowing attack is arguably the continent's most exhilarating, while Mikel Arteta's Arsenal is wedded to the pragmatic approach that ended its 22-year wait to win the Premier League.

The Gunners' soccer this season has not won over many neutrals, but after years of being the league's perennial "nearly men", Arteta's strategy has paid dividends.

Arsenal's consistency beat out Pep Guardiola's Manchester City to be crowned champion of England and led it back to Europe's summit two decades after reaching the 2006 final.

In the current Champions League campaign Arsenal has conceded only six goals in 14 matches and is unbeaten — by contrast PSG has let in 22 through the tournament.

"Without the ball, they are the best team in the world," said PSG coach Luis Enrique of the north London side.

Arteta's side depends on structure and discipline, seeking to control opponents by stopping it reaching dangerous areas, limiting its shots in the box — no Premier League team has conceded fewer.

The Gunners aggressively press opponents high, seeking to dominate territory, and hate giving the ball away themselves, avoiding risk in their passing.

They possess imposing, physical players, from impressive center-back pairing Gabriel and William Saliba, through the spine of the team with Declan Rice to imposing strikers Viktor Gyokeres and Kai Havertz.

That aids Arsenal's dead ball mastery, under the cunning eye of set piece coach Nicolas Jover, who it signed from Manchester City in 2021.

Swiss newspaper Blick pondered whether Jover was "ruining soccer", with the Frenchman reportedly paid a bonus for every goal scored via set-pieces.

"We want to be the best and the most dominant team in every aspect of the game," said Arteta, imploring his team to score even more from dead balls.

With 27 Premier League goals scored this season from dead ball situations, 38 percent of its total, some have labeled Arsenal "Set Piece FC".

"Every time they get a corner, my head is in my hands," former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher told Sky Sports.

"I've never seen anything like this before in football."

After three consecutive second-place finishes, though, Arsenal recognizes winning ugly is better than not winning at all.

"I don't know how you celebrate one goal different to another — maybe for YouTube one is nicer (to look at) than another," said Arteta unperturbed by the criticism.

Arsenal won seven Premier League games by a slender 1-0 scoreline this season, managing to keep 19 clean sheets.

If teams do penetrate the backline, then they must beat David Raya, who is enjoying a superb season in goal.

The Spaniard has matched the record of nine clean sheets in the Champions League. A 10th could secure the trophy.

Arsenal's struggles from open play, particularly when star winger Bukayo Saka was out injured, frustrated even its own supporters at times.

Yet, as tens of thousands turned up to celebrate the Premier League title, nobody was complaining.

The joyous scenes outside the Emirates stadium, with some players joining the fans until past 5 am, will give Arsenal license to double down on its approach, particularly against a team as lethal as PSG.

AFP