Club Brugge 0-3 Arsenal: Madueke and Martinelli magic as Jesus returns

Match report (inc goals) – Player ratings – Arteta reaction

Arsenal made it six wins from six in the Champions League last night, after a 3-0 victory over Club Brugge.

Mikel Arteta made changes to the side. With no Jurrien Timber, Christian Norgaard was brought in as a make-shift centre-half, Myles Lewis-Skelly started at left-back, while there were starts in the front three for Noni Madueke, Gabriel Martinelli, and Viktor Gyokeres.

We began brightly, Martin Odegaard testing the keeper with an effort from just outside the box, and Piero Hincapie diverting a Lewis-Skelly shot onto the post. Having previously needed treatment on a hand injury, it was Madueke who fired us ahead in the 25th minute, and what a goal it was. He drove beyond his marker out on the right, came centrally, drove forward and smacked a beautiful shot which went in off the underside of the bar to make it 1-0. Superb stuff.

The goal seemed to wake the home side up though. Between our goal and half-time, they out-shot us 6 to 5, with 3 of those on target. David Raya wasn’t overly-tested, but did well, and as you might expect given some of the changes, there wasn’t necessarily the kind of defensive cohesion you’ve come to expect of Arsenal these days. Aleksandar Stankovic curled a shot just wide, then just before the break was sent in behind (although I suspect he was offside despite not seeing a good enough replay), and Raya was there to make another decent stop.

So, encouragement for Club Brugge towards the end of that first half, and I’m sure the message coming out for the second 45 was to keep that up. Instead, they found themselves 2-0 almost straight away. Martin Zubimendi, who was fantastic last night in every aspect of the game, took the ball down the inside left channel, put in a great cross to the back post, and Madueke had the simple job of nodding home from close range as the defenders and keeper just watched on.

A few minutes later and it was 3-0. Martinelli rose to the Madueke challenge and said ‘If you can score a banger, watch this!’, and I did watch it and it was good. Driving in from the left, he beat his man, cut the ball back, and curled a brilliant shot into the top corner. It’s really not the kind of goal you associate with him, but if that’s what he’s pulling out of his locker, you can’t complain. That goal made him the first ever Arsenal player to score in five consecutive Champions League games, so fair play.

The lead allowed the manager to make changes, most notable of which was Gabriel Jesus replacing Gyokeres in the 63rd minute, because it marked his comeback after an absence of 333 days due to the ACL injury he picked up in January. The game was probably a bit more open, with tired legs on the opposition side, so he was able to get involved a bit more than the Swede. He hit the bar, and had another couple of decent sights at goal but couldn’t find the finish. It struck me that if we could combine his ability to find those positions with Gyokeres’ powerful finishing, we’d have a hell of a player on our hands. Nevertheless, it’s great to see him back and hopefully the minutes both our 9s got last night will be useful in terms of match fitness and sharpness.

We also got a nice cameo from Ethan Nwaneri, who looked lively and dangerous when he came on, and a debut for 16 year old Marli Salmon who replaced Ben White late on and looked comfortable at right back. So, all in all, a positive night for the team, a good win which keeps up top of the Champions League table, a clean sheet, and some minutes and confidence boosting end product from players who we are going to need over the coming weeks and months.

Madueke spoke afterwards about his contribution, and that of Martinelli, and said:

We’re tight. I feel like that’s the main thing. We want each other to do well. We know that there are loads of minutes for all of us. We know that we have top, top players everywhere in the squad, so it’s about all of us as a collective; it’s not really about any individual, and we know that we all have a part to play, so that’s a good thing about this team.

While Arteta spoke afterwards, and said of his goalscorers:

When you talk about individual quality, individual action, a magic moment, that’s it. A player that is able to pick the ball that far, dribble past people and finish with the quality and the power that he’s done. The same as Martinelli as well, I think at this level you want to win games, you need individual players to step up and to do something different. So, I’m very happy because now we have some players back in the front line and you can tell how much better we have done.

If there is a slight downside, it’s that defensive and midfield injuries meant Zubimendi had to play the full 90, but perhaps, with some returns this weekend, the game against Wolves might be earmarked as one where he can watch on from the bench rather than start again. I grow ever more impressed with him each time I see him play though. There’s just such a great football intelligence on show, not just on the ball, but the way he reads the game and the positions he takes up in both halves. I think because his signing was in the post for so long, it didn’t get people as excited as it should have, but for me it’s a significant upgrade on what we had in that position previously.

I also enjoyed Martin Keown commenting on TNT Sports that in Zubimendi and Mikel Merino Arsenal were benefitting from having ‘three-quarters of the Spain midfield’. That’s how good Zubi is!

Right, I’ll leave it there for now, but we will have an Arsecast for you a bit later on, discussing this game and lots more, so stick around for that. Until then, have a good one folks.