Arsenal has a foot in the quarter-finals of the Champions League after winning a emphatic 7-1 victory at PSV Eindhoven.
Jurrien Timber, Ethan Nwaneri and Mikel Merino were all at the destination in the first half before Martin Odegaard was twice converted a dominant, well-contracted victory twice on both sides of a Leandro-Trossard chips and Riccardo Calafiori in the last 16 first leg.
How the game unfolds
Arsenal started light and saw an early penalty screw after Odegaard fell into the penalty area. Declan Rice had the ball for 12 minutes in the back of the network, but an early offside flag was validated by an incredibly tight Var check.
PSV should have opened the rating shortly afterwards when Ismael Saibari achieved the post up close, and they had to pay for their subjects when wood went down at the other end and an adorable rice cross went home.
Almost immediately afterwards it was 2: 0. Myles Lewis-Skellys Low Cross found another Hale End Gem Nwaneri, who fell his efforts on the roof of PSV’s network to give the Gunners an important pillow.
Arsenal made three at half an hour. PSV made a comedy of mistakes in defense and the talented possession of Merino, who simply had to steer the ball into the back of the PSV network. A mammoth waits for a Var check for offside, which ultimately approved the gate after almost four minutes.
PSV was offered a route back into the game five minutes before the interval, when Thomas Partey Luuk de Jong dragged into the box clumsy and Noa Lang beat a wonderful stain kick beyond David Raya. De Jong could have grabbed a second before the break, but the towering striker could not hold his header under the bar.
The second half started with a bang when Arsenal immediately restored her three-goal lead. The PSV stopper Walter Benitez was only able to parry a cross in the way of Odegaard, which could hardly be missed up close. Arsenal did five with 48 minutes on the clock when Trossards Dinkter Finish landed in the back of the network.
Gabriel was frustrated, so as not to make six out of a typical arsenal corner in the hour, as did Trossard when a offside flag refused to go away, but Odegaard had the job done after a direct run led to a shot that was simply too powerful for a disappointed Benitez. Cue the mass exodus from the stands.
Those who stayed in the stadium still had time to suffer a seventh arsenal goal when Calafiori collected a delightful passage of Odegaard and showed exactly why he was advertised as a possible striker option when he went beyond Benitez.
Take a look at the player reviews of PSV 1-7 Arsenal here.
The sight of Nwaneri, who celebrated after the second goal with Lewis Skelly, was an emotional moment for Arsenal fans. You have found two superstars of the future.
Nwaneri became Arsenal’s second young player in the Ko-Knockout phase of the Champions League, only 39 days older than CESC Fabregas, while he was also the third Englishman under the age of 18, who started a knockout game after Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden.
Bukayo Saka’s injury was obviously a big blow, but Nwaneri pushed straight into the spotlight, and the young striker did not look back. The challenge for Areta is to play his two star boys later this season.
The complaints about Arsenal in 2025 were simple – they don’t score and they hardly create any chances. That was clearly not the case here.
While her first half did not always dominate, Arsenal was unusually productive and in front of the goal. They carved through the defense of PSV when they really started when Odegaard, Nwaneri, Trossard and Rice made it easy to play into the box of the hosts.
It was a masterful performance to start the second half when Arsenal showed the ruthless series in front of the goal, which she left so often this season. This is exactly what Areta wanted to see and was the kind of performance that is undoubtedly maintained her Slim Premier League title hopes.
It cannot be denied not to impress Merino on his last trips to strikers. Things were not exactly perfect here, but this natural eye for a goal was to be seen again in Eindhoven.
PSV’s sad defense was Merino on a plate, but the provisional striker still had to be aware of the opportunity and undeniably took his goal with the type of precisions arsenal fans that Kai Havertz did not always see.
There will be questions whether Merino is still the right answer for Arsenal during her injury crisis, but if you can surround your striker with players of this kind of confident form, it is hardly important who leads the limit.
Myles Lewis-Skelly was almost shown his third red card of the calendar year. After he was booked early, he crunched in the middle of half in the middle of another challenge that PSV could not believe not to give any further yellow card.
Mikel Areta may have felt a bit of luck and decided to withdraw Lewis-Skelly shortly after half an hour. Arsenal with 3-0 and effectively killed the game in such an early stage.
The provisional left -back was incorrectly sent against wolves by the referee after making the referee an unnecessary decision before he was correctly rejected against West Ham United at the end of the last month, and there will soon be questions about a worrying trend.
It is worth remembering that Lewis Skelly is not a natural left-back. The training of the young person came as a central midfielder and he was only drafted into the defense to help in an emergency. This lack of experience in full-back begins to show.