Boring, boring Arsenal. That has been the accusation made against Mikel Arteta’s evolving side this season. At times it has been a fair criticism but this was an emphatic, glorious and pointed riposte from the Arsenal manager and his players.
Boring? How about five goals in the first half alone? How about every single forward player finding the net? How about the speed, invention and sheer joy of their attacking football, against an RC Lens side who suffered the most brutal of punishments?
It takes a brave team to come to Arsenal with an appetite for adventure. Lens tried it, pushing high up the pitch and leaving space in behind, and they were promptly obliterated within just half an hour of action. From the first minute, the Arsenal attackers were licking their lips like beasts who had not feasted for weeks.
There is a reason, after all, that almost every Premier League team arrives at the Emirates Stadium with the intention of setting up camp in their own penalty area. To give space to Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli is to effectively present your own chin, eyes closed, to a puncher of devastating power. Lens took hit after hit and, before long, they were stumbling cluelessly through a north London hell.
All three of those forwards scored and there were also goals for the attacking midfielders, Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard, before the break. It meant that Arsenal became the first team in Champions League history to have five different scorers in the first half of a match. “I did not even dream it like this,” said Arteta. “We were amazing,” said Jesus.
Truly, this was Arsenal unleashed. The fast Arsenal, the fun Arsenal. The Arsenal that their supporters had come to expect last season. A deeply enjoyable night for the home crowd, then, and a result that ensured Arsenal will finish top of their group. The knockout stages await, although one assumes that more challenging opponents are also on the horizon.
“Right from the beginning, the team showed a lot of aggression and determination,” said Arteta. “Everything happened in the right way.”
The party started early and it helped the atmosphere that Havertz was the man who struck first. His winner at Brentford last weekend felt like a springboard moment and, on this evidence, that is already proving to be the case. As Jesus jumped for a loose ball, it was Havertz who reacted quickest.
Two goals in two games for the German, and now the home crowd is starting to show some love. For the first time since he swapped Chelsea blue for Arsenal red, Havertz’s name echoed around north London. “£60 million down the drain,” they sang. “Kai Havertz scores again.”
Arsenal soon scored again, too, as Jesus produced his latest masterpiece in this season’s Champions League. The Brazilian has been enjoying himself throughout this European campaign and this strike, converted after he had sat down a hapless Lens defender, was yet another demonstration of his class.
You would not have thought it, given the obvious gulf in quality, but Lens came into this match unbeaten in three Champions League matches against Arsenal. That record was a source of concern before kick-off, but quickly became more like a punchline.
The next to score was Saka, who bundled the ball into the empty net after Martinelli’s shot had been saved by Brice Samba. Then it was Martinelli’s turn, as he curled a gorgeous effort into the far corner for Arsenal’s third goal in the space of six minutes. At which point, the Lens bench would not have been blamed for trying to stop the fight. Pummellings like this are not supposed to happen at the highest level.
Arsenal play with five attacking players and all five of them scored before half-time. It was Odegaard who completed the set, volleying home with venom after Takehiro Tomiyasu had galloped into that space behind the Lens defence.
Such was Arsenal’s dominance, Arteta felt able to do something unusual: rest Saka. The England winger was removed after 66 minutes and he was soon joined by Declan Rice, another player who usually has a long-distance relationship with the bench.
Clearly, the contest was over. But Arsenal still wanted more and they struck the sixth in the final minutes, when Abdukodir Khusanov’s handball was spotted by the Var. Odegaard, ever the captain, handed the ball to Jorginho and the Italy international calmly rolled his penalty into the corner. Six-nil, to the Arsenal.