No matter what happens in Budapest, Arsenal have a parade to look forward to on Sunday.

Whether Mikel Arteta and his players will have one trophy to show off or two is still to be decided, with the Premier League champions preparing to face Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final tonight. There’s a spot on the open-top bus for the most iconic piece of silverware in European football.

At 4/6, PSG are favourites to lift the Champions League trophy for the second time in as many seasons. Luis Enrique’s side conquered all challengers last season, and they could do so again by overcoming Arsenal at Puskas Arena.

It was 12 months ago that Inter were overwhelmed by the French side in the final, as they succumbed to a humiliating 5-0 defeat. Arteta has surely analysed what went wrong for the Italians to ensure the same thing doesn’t happen to his side on Saturday.

Arsenal will be much more competitive — and are 11/10 to win this game. It’s not bad odds for a team that has kept nine clean sheets in this season’s Champions League, more than any other team in the competition. They have conceded just twice in the knockout rounds.

But an incredibly tough game is on the cards, with PSG to score 0.5 goals priced at 11/4 — reflecting how difficult it will be for Arsenal to stop an opponent that scored six goals in two games against Bayern Munich.

If any team can keep the defending continental champions at arm’s length, it is Arsenal. But, of course, to get the better of PSG in Budapest, they will have to create some chances of their own.

It is just as well, then, that Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka appear to have found their best form in time for this encounter.

Odegaard contributed a game-changing assist in the recent win over West Ham, while Saka has registered four goal contributions in his last four outings in all competitions.

Saka will have to help out his right-back partner to prevent Nuno Mendes and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia from causing too much damage down the wing. On the flip side, there could be space behind Mendes for Saka to exploit.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and PSG swept Inter aside in last year’s final (Franck Fife / AFP)

Only Noni Madueke is averaging more successful dribbles per 90 minutes for Arsenal this season than Saka, who is one of the best one-on-one attackers in the European game. Saka is 8/5 to score or assist against PSG.

Declan Rice will also be key to Arsenal’s chances of winning the Champions League for the first time in their 139-year history. The England international is the midfield dynamo around whom the rest of Arteta’s team revolves. No Arsenal player has created more ‘big chances’ than Rice, who is also averaging more accurate passes per 90 minutes than any other midfielder at the club.

PSG have some midfielders of their own who could take a grip of Saturday’s match, though. Joao Neves, Fabian Ruiz and Vitinha form the engine of the PSG machine. Arsenal must find a way to stop them from finding their rhythm.

Arsenal proved their capacity for handling pressure by winning this season’s Premier League title and it is possible the triumph could give them new belief to now get past PSG.

It is worth noting that five of Arsenal’s past seven wins in all competitions have come by a 1-0 scoreline, and the odds of them producing such a result here are 8/1. But they will likely have to produce their best performance of the Arteta era.

Arsenal controlled the semi-final against Atletico Madrid and that suggests they might have what it takes to make history. Over those two matches, particularly the second leg, Arsenal matched up physically with Diego Simeone’s side. They controlled possession in the centre of the field and ran the channels to open up space in the attacking third.

Arteta might be wise to recycle that game plan against the defending European champions. The odds are against the Gunners, but anything is possible.