Jurrien Timber sees Arsenal’s last-16 UEFA Champions League tie against PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday as an opportunity to "change the narrative" on their season.
Arsenal travel to the Netherlands for the first leg having fallen to 13 points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool, after failing to score in their past two league matches, a 1-0 home defeat by West Ham United and a goalless draw at Nottingham Forest.
"I think tomorrow is a beautiful game to change the narrative and to win," Timber said on his return to his homeland.
Long-term injuries to key forwards Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus have severely weakened Arsenal’s attack as they start their knockout campaign in Europe, but Timber believes that he and his team-mates can still pose a threat.
"I think we have so much quality in our group, of course we have a lot of injuries, especially up front, but it's a beautiful challenge for us to put our front players - or anyone - to score goals and hopefully we can show that," Timber said.
"We have to score tomorrow, we have to win and in the Champions League you only have two games, so you don't get second chances. So we have to go for it in this game."
Arteta: Defensive record is critical
Arsenal had a strong campaign in the Champions League, finishing the league phase third. But while manager Mikel Arteta pointed to his defence in providing a solid base in this season’s Champions League, he was wary of underestimating an opponent in PSV, who knocked out Juventus to reach this stage and handed Liverpool their only defeat in the Champions League this season.
"We have played very differently home and away in the last year, especially in Europe," Arteta said.
"We have been much more consistent, we have scored a lot of goals, we have conceded hardly anything, I think we have conceded three goals and the lowest Expected Goals [Against] in the group stage which is great.
"So that’s a big platform, so we have those resources at the disposal of the team, it’s something the team has already done and now we have to continue to do it.
"If you look at the history of the teams who have been very successful, the defensive record is critical. And then we have shown we have the capacity to score a lot of goals in the competition, obviously the options are different but the team still has a lot of resources to do that."
