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Abdulazeez Abubakar
4 weeks ago
Overview
Mikel Arteta makes light of Arsenal goal rush: ‘I knew it was coming’
Mikel Arteta joked that he knew Arsenal would put seven past PSV Eindhoven as he hailed a historic and unbelievable night for his players that all but secures their place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
A double from Martin Odegaard and individual strikes by Jurrien Timber, Ethan Nwaneri, Mikel Merino, Leandro Trossard and Riccardo Calafiori sent Arsenal on their way to a thumping 7-1 triumph – their biggest away win in the Champions League.
It marked a remarkable reversal in fortunes for Arteta’s previously goal-shy side, who arrived in the Netherlands with three blanks from their last four outings and their Premier League dream up in smoke.
But when asked if he could ever have envisaged such a scoreline, Arteta said with a smile: “I knew it was coming.
“That is the beauty of football. Nobody in this room, if I gave you an envelope and said, ‘can you predict what’s going to happen tomorrow and who is going to score?’ would have predicted it. But that’s the beauty of football. You put your head down, be humble, and analyse how you can improve.
“We will enjoy tonight because it was a very impressive performance and an unbelievable score. We deserve that and I’ll take it. Today, we were exceptional.”
Following a 1-0 defeat against West Ham and a goalless draw against Nottingham Forest in the league which leaves them 13 points adrift of Liverpool, Arsenal’s campaign had been in danger of fizzling out.
However, Arteta’s men answered Timber’s pre-match call to change the narrative with an electric performance on the European stage – admittedly against a utterly lightweight PSV side – to put them on the brink of a last-eight match-up against either Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid.
Without a recognised striker, Timber opened the scoring for the Gunners after 18 minutes before teenager Nwaneri and makeshift forward Merino extended Arsenal’s advantage inside half an hour.
Noa Lang gave PSV hope from the penalty spot only for Odegaard to score 60 seconds after the restart, with Trossard adding the fifth a minute later.
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/arsenal-mikel-arteta-psv-eindhoven-martin-odegaard-mikel-merino-b2709067.html
