Jurrien Timber revealed on Monday that Arsenal wanted to “change the narrative” of their season against PSV Eindhoven. On Tuesday, they certainly managed that.
The Gunners arrived in the Netherlands with all the talk about whether they could effectively ‘clean sheet’ their way through the Champions League rounds. There was a notion that while their attack has been decimated through injury, their defence could carry them over the line.
Even before the game, Mikel Arteta referenced Arsenal having the best Expected Goals Conceded record in Europe’s top competition this season and fielded questions about the 2006 Gunners side that reached the Champions League final – one who did not concede a single goal from the last 16 to the final.
Now the narrative, as Timber foresaw, has indeed shifted. Seven goals from eight shots on target have quietened the noise about Arsenal’s lack of goals. For the first time, this team has produced a big win with Mikel Merino starting up front, with 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri there too as one of the key players on the biggest stage.
Ethan Nwaneri celebrates making it 2-0
But more importantly, it showed brief glimpses of the Arsenal force seen at the back end of last season – the team that won 16 out of a possible 18 matches in the Premier League run-in via some huge scorelines and ended up on 89 points.
That team was boosted by goals from all over the pitch. After the PSV game, Arteta referenced how his many full-backs – the Gunners used six in Eindhoven on Tuesday night, which must be some sort of record – got involved in the devastating act.
“Myles [Lewis-Skelly] makes an assist, Jurrien scores a header, [Riccardo] Calafiori makes a run and scores with his right foot. That’s the team I want to see, one that takes initiative and wants to make things happen,” said Arteta.
But that team from last season also benefited from goal contributions from midfield. Declan Rice got three goals and five assists across 11 games between March and May last year. The England midfielder showed signs he is ready to produce those type of numbers again following a stunning cross to set up Timber’s opener.
And Odegaard looks to have found some confidence too. The Arsenal captain has just one goal and one assist in the Premier League since the start of December but on Tuesday, his double ensured he picked up as many non-penalty goals in Eindhoven than he managed in his previous 33 Arsenal matches.
Martin Odegaard scored as many non-penalty goals against PSV has he has manged in his last 33 games for Arsenal
The other added Arsenal bonus was the performance of Nwaneri – unarguably his brightest outing yet in his breakthrough season. The fierce finish for the second goal was backed up by a nice run and finish for the fourth. His four shots overall displayed his confidence.
“Even if Saka was still here, Ethan would still be in and around the team and getting minutes,” added Rice after Arsenal’s big win. And it raises the question as to what team Arsenal will put out in Madrid for the quarter-final they have surely qualified for now.
Saka is forecasted to be back by that expected last-eight tie, Gabriel Martinelli too. If Arteta can find a way to get all his attacking stars firing in time for that game, maybe the Gunners might have something to play for after all.
Arsenal started the week with PSV away being the game to salvage their season. And while the context of a poor PSV display and their many injuries still lingers over them, now they have a lot more confidence and quality to work with to make this season run-in a success via European silverware.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta gives his reaction to his side’s history making win at PSV
Rice: We have been playing like this all season
Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice speaking to Amazon Prime Sport:
“We were fluid, we had enthusiasm. We had the drive and hunger, it’s the knockout rounds of the Champions League.
“But we have playing like this all season. We spoke about a narrative but we players feel like we’ve been doing well. Sometimes we score five or six, sometimes we score two or three, sometimes we can lose by one.
“That’s where we need to keep pushing as a team with the mentality. Tonight we did that.
“When they came back to make it 3-1, we could have sat back. But we pushed on and you saw that with the goals we scored in the second half. A massive performance. Now onto the home game, nothing’s done yet. We’ll see what happens.”
On Nwaneri: “Seventeen years old, playing on the biggest stage of football. It’s crazy! We see him every day. All of the lads have taken him under our wing, the same with Myles. You should see them train, they have no fear. And the way they come to perform.”
Verdict: Arsenal enjoy the carnival
Sky Sports News’ Gail Davis at Philips Stadion:
After spending almost every waking moment over the last few days talking about Arsenal’s inability to score they go out and put seven past PSV.
There is a context around the result of course and that was the dire defending from the home side, truly awful at times but Arsenal and Arteta won’t care.
Three goals in 13 minutes, 99 seconds between Arsenal’s fourth and fifth seizing the momentum they had created and then surviving the wobble just before half-time would have pleased Arteta.
Odegaard would have enjoyed his double after a difficult few months, Rice looked back to his menacing best and Nwaneri is an absolute joy to watch in full flight – nothing seems to faze this teenager and he isn’t afraid to take the shot on.
It was smart by Arteta to pull Lewis-Skelly out of the firing line – he has done so much good this season it would be sad to see it overshadowed with more disciplinary problems.
I was worried whether the game could live up to the drama, the spectacular and the sparkle of the warm up act of the Eindhoven carnival – no such problem.
‘A gulf in class’
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Tim Sherwood gives his full-time reaction after Arsenal created history against PSV
Tim Sherwood watching on Sky Sports News:
“They did not have to worry about goals tonight, there was a gulf in class. They had to do it right, they quietened the crowd down. It is carnival time in Eindhoven and they came to have a party but Arsenal soon shut them up.
“It was incredible how they shifted the ball and it opened up. The movement was very good. Merino playing as a nine, I watched him closely. If he was not touching the ball, he was occupying then centre-halves and making space for Rice and Odegaard to make late runs.
“Nwaneri, the little superstar, was drifting into different positions. They just had too much for them and they really were a class above. Without a recognised centre-forward they had too much firepower.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘Made in the Academy!’ Tim Sherwood reacts to Arsenal’s first three goals against PSV
Arsenal’s massive win in stats
- Arsenal became the first team in UEFA Champions League history to score seven or more goals away from home in a knockout stage match.
- Arsenal scored seven goals in a single game in all competitions for the first time since beating Newcastle 7-3 in the Premier League back in December 2012.
- Arsenal scored seven goals in a European game for the first time since October 2007 (7-0 vs Slavia Prague in the UEFA Champions League), doing so away from home for the first time since November 1993 (7-0 vs Standard Liège) on their way to winning the Cup Winners’ Cup that year.
- PSV conceded seven goals in a game for just the third time in their history also doing against GVAV in May 1958 (1-7) and Feyenoord in June 1960 (1-7).
- Arsenal became the first team in UEFA Champions League history to have six different scorers (excluding own goals) in an away knockout stage game.
- This was the earliest (48th minute) a side has scored five goals in a UEFA Champions League away game since Shakhtar Donetsk vs BATE Borisov in October 2014 (40th minute) and the earliest a side has ever done so away from home in the knockout rounds of the competition.
- Arsenal’s Ethan Nwaneri (17y 348d) became the third youngest player to score a knockout stage goal in the UEFA Champions League after Bojan in April 2008 (17y 217d) and Jude Bellingham in April 2021 (17y 289d).
- Through Nwaneri (17y 348d) and Myles Lewis-Skelly (18y 159d) Arsenal started a UEFA Champions League game with two teenagers for the first time since September 2014 vs Galatasaray (Hector Bellern and Calum Chambers), doing so in the knockout rounds of the competition for the first time since March 2007, when they met PSV in the last 16 (Cesc Fabregas and Denilson).
