Arsenal recorded a somewhat underwhelming victory over Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League, but the result was an important one.
Gabriel Martinelli forced an own goal from Shakhtar goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk, but Leandro Trossard missed a penalty as Arsenal secured all three points.
Whilst it was a dull 90 minutes, it meant that Arsenal have now recorded three clean sheets in three Champions League games this season, and have secured seven points from a possible nine.
Given that Mikel Arteta has had to contend with several key injury problems, with Bukayo Saka among the absentees against Shakhtar, this is an impressive record to begin the campaign, and Arsenal are now in a very good position when it comes to qualification.
Arsenal reach next round of Champions League after Shakhtar Donetsk victory
Securing all three points against Shakhtar has meant that Arsenal are now guaranteed to finish in the top 24 spots of the 36-team table.
This means that no matter what happens in the rest of the games, Arsenal have already secured at least a place in the playoff rounds to reach the last 16.
Arsenal are fourth in the Champions League table, two points off leaders Aston Villa, and are level with Monaco and Sporting Club De Portugal.
The Gunners have played three of their eight League Phase games, with five more to go in the coming months.
Arsenal’s remaining Champions League fixtures
Arsenal have to navigate two tough away trips to Inter Milan and Sporting CP in their next two games, and beating either would send Arteta’s side closer to securing a top-eight finish.
This finish would mean that Arsenal progress straight to the knockouts, and will not need to add a playoff round to their already-packed fixture schedule.
After the trips to Sporting and Inter, Arsenal have home games against Dinamo Zagreb and Monaco, before an away trip to Girona.
How many points Arsenal will need to qualify for Champions League knockout rounds
Given that this is the first year of the new Champions League format, it is unclear how many points Arsenal will exactly need to reach the knockouts directly.
Arsenal have already faced what can be considered two of their three hardest games, having played against pot one side PSG, and fellow pot two team Atalanta.
There are 15 more points for Arsenal to play for, with the maximum they can achieve set at 22 as a result of their draw to Atalanta.
Arteta will not want to take his foot off the gas, but if Arsenal can secure a positive result away at Inter, they can start to rotate a bit more in the later league phase games.
Receive a digest of our best Arsenal content each week direct to your mailbox
