Arsenal recorded another history in the Champions League by getting the first even away win in the round of 16 by a big margin of 7-1. This is something that was not expected from the Gunners, bearing in mind that the club has really been struggling to score goals of late because of lack of a striker.
The Arsenal team went into the game as underdogs, and very few people expected them to perform the way they did. The players were so composed and it was very evident from the first minute of the game that, they wanted to try something new with the resources that they have.
They were playing an attacking football all through and it bore fruits. Declan Rice gave Jurrien Timber a good pass and the Dutch international player headed the first goal for Arsenal. Two minutes later, 18-year-old Myles Lewis-Skelly gave 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri a good pass, and the Hale End Academy graduates teamed up for the second goal.
Mikel Merino then added the third goal after a defensive error by the PSV defenders. Mikel Arteta took the risk after 35 minutes and substituted Myles Lewis-Skelly who was already on a yellow card and replaced him with Riccardo Calafiori who was also very impressive.
The substitution of Myles Lewis-Skelly was just as a pre-caution in order to avoid a red card that could have had negative impact on the game against Arsenal. PSV got a penalty and Noa Lang converted it. The first half ended 3-1 in favor of Arsenal.
Many people expected the second half to be a tussle between Arsenal and PSV owing to the fact that PSV had pulled one goal back and they were in their home ground.
Mikel Arteta’s game plan ruined everything for PSV. Two minutes after the start of the second half, Martin Odegaard scored the fourth goal. One minute later, Riccardo Calafiori gave Leandro Trossard a good pass and he scored the fifth goal.
Mikel Merion then gave Martin Odegaard a good pass and the captain scored the sixth goal before he set up a good pass for Riccardo Calafiori another good pass that led to the seventh goal.
Mikel Arteta further substituted Thomas Partey and replaced him with Oleksandr Zinchenko, Ethan Nwaneri with Raheem Sterling, Mikel Merino with Kieran Tierney and Jurrien Timber with Ben White.
The PSV Manager also made some substitutions, he substituted Ryan Flamingo and replaced him with Adamo Nagalo, Luuk de Jong with Johan Bakayoko, Richard Ledezma with Rick Karsdorp, Olivier Boscagli with Armando Obispo and Ismael Saibari with Joey Veerman.
The game ended 7-1 in favor of Arsenal and as it stands now, PSV need to beat Arsenal 7-0 in order to overtake them. This is a pipe dream considering the fact that Arsenal also has a very solid defence that cannot concede all those goals even with a red card.
