Mikel Arteta was quick to praise his goal-scoring midfield duo Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard after Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League.
Wednesday night’s win is all but a guarantee that the Gunners will reach the last 16 of the competition. Only a resounding defeat against Girona in their last game and notable results elsewhere saw them fall out of the top eight.
Arsenal’s triumph over the Croatian giants was relatively straightforward, with Rice firing them into the lead in just the second minute. Their dominance was further rewarded when Kai Havertz doubled the score with a header after the hour and Odegaard added some sparkle to the scoreline in stoppage time to end his goal drought.
The Gunners captain had not scored in a game since the 5-2 win over West Ham United at the end of November and has failed to score in his last 13 games in all competitions.
“You could tell by the way Martin celebrated [that] He had a rage and a desire to do it,” Arteta enthused after the Norwegian’s man-of-the-match presentation at the Emirates Stadium.
Rice also had a poor start to Wednesday’s clash, failing to get on the scoresheet in Arsenal’s last seven games, but a fine performance saw him score his first Champions League goal.
“His intent, his aim, especially attacking the positions he takes and how he handles the ball. His game still has some bite and today he could have scored two goals,” enthused Arteta.
“Over the last few weeks he’s had some big, open scoring chances to influence the game, so overall I’m really happy because we need to influence the game from those positions and he’s certainly capable of doing that.”
Arsenal blew a two-goal lead in their 2-2 draw with Aston Villa last weekend as they stumbled in the Premier League title fight, but they return to action on Saturday when they visit Wolverhampton Wanderers back.