Arsenal thrashed PSV Eindhoven in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie.
The Gunners stormed into a three-goal lead inside the first 35 minutes.
Jurrien Timber opened the scoring, nodding home from an immaculate Declan Rice cross, before Ethan Nwaneri increased the deficit, slamming into the roof of the net from a Myles Lewis-Skelly cut-back.
Mikel Merino made it three, curling neatly beyond Walter Benitez after a scrappy bit of play in the PSV box that involved Timber.
Noa Lang pulled one back for the home side before the break, converting a penalty after Thomas Partey was adjudged to have impeded Luuk de Jong.
Arsenal quickly added to their tally in the second half, with Martin Odegaard pouncing on a lose ball to make it four and Leandro Trossard chipping in to score another.
Odegaard then doubled his personal tally, before Riccardo Calafiori completed the rout by slotting home from the Norwegian’s beautiful pass.
Five things you missed from PSV v Arsenal
Arsenal’s ruthlessness in front of goal was obvious, but there were several other things you might have missed.
Arsenal’s excellent pressing
Arsenal were dismal in their defeat against West Ham at the Emirates, largely because their press was all over the place.
In Eindhoven, Arteta clearly looked to rectify this, and his team successfully did so.
The Gunners’ squeezed the Dutch side up the pitch excellently, with Merino and Odegaard leading the press.
The functionality of this system led to many chances for the Gunners, and should be how Arsenal look to cope without their best forwards moving forward.
Jurrien Timber mirrored Gabriel Jesus’ celebration
Gabriel Jesus is out for the season with an ACL injury, but he’ll have had a grin on his face watching from his sofa after Timber opened the scoring.
The Dutchman rose highest from Rice’s cross to nod Arsenal in front and proceeded to produce Jesus’ trademark celebration.
Holding his hand up to his ear, mimicking being on the phone, the gesture was a nice touch from Timber.
Arsenal’s extremely aggressive full-backs
With Arsenal’s attack flailing in recent matches, Arteta evidently looked to eradicate this issue by allowing his full-backs more freedom.
Timber popped up with the opening goal, while Lewis-Skelly and Riccardo Calafiori both also contributed to goals.
The Arsenal boss clearly wanted both of his full-backs to be deployed as high up the pitch and as aggressively as possible, with both often the most advanced outlet for the team at times.
This ploy certainly worked, as the Gunners looked substantially more threatening in the final third.
Declan Rice’s free role
As well as pushing the full-backs up, Arteta opted to deploy Rice as a free eight rather than as a six next to Thomas Partey.
Rice has been given an advanced role before but often struggles to make the most of dangerous situations when receiving the ball in these areas.
Against Forest, he was used deeper in a double pivot and Arsenal’s attack struggled as a result.
In this game, his elusive runs in to the half-spaces and ability to win the ball high up the pitch and take shots was a key facet to the Gunners’ exciting performance.
PSV fans’ colourful costumes
In the lead-up to Lent, the people of Eindhoven celebrate Carnival, dressing up in various colourful costumes.
This was present in the Philips Stadion, with several supporters dressed in all sorts of weird and wonderful outfits.
This was the only thing the PSV faithful had to cheer about, as their team were buried by a ruthless Arsenal team.
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