Having seen his side put three goals past Monaco to push us one step closer to the knockout stages of the Champions League, Mikel Arteta was delighted his squad rotation was repaid with some big performances.
The boss made four changes from Sunday’s draw at Fullham, which included handing a first European start to Myles Lewis-Skelly who was one of several players who excelled against the French giants.
Bukayo Saka grabbed another two goals and an assist to move him to 21 goal involvements this season already, and the boss was delighted that his regulars and incoming players dovetailed so nicely to pick up another vital three points.
“I’m very happy – it’s always very difficult to win in the Champions League,” said Mikel. “3-0 and a clean sheet puts us in a really good position in the group. I’m really pleased as well to see some players that haven’t played that much – Myles coming in and having his [full] debut in the Champions League at 18 years old and performing the way he did, it was great.“He’s earned the chance for us to trust him, to believe him. Obviously, there are certain conditions that have facilitated him to be here and when he had the chance, he grabbed it. He played with a lot of personality, a lot of courage and competed really well in the game.
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“Bukayo is playing at the highest level every three days, he’s contributing in attacking, in defending, in every aspect of the game. And on top of that, he wants more. That’s the environment we want to create."
The victory moves us to 13 points from six matches and third position in the table. It is believed that 15 points would be enough to seal a spot in the top eight and advance automatically to the round of 16, avoiding a two-legged play-off in the process.
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That means we may be able to tie up a bye by beating Dinamo Zagreb at home next month, but Mikel isn’t thinking that far ahead. He just wants to keep collecting as many wins as possible, and was even left rueing a few missed chances as the chance to add to our goal difference slipped by.When asked how he feels about qualification, he added: “I think it will depend on the rest of the results. We are in a good position and we need to get the job done, and there’s still a lot to do.“I’m disappointed we didn’t score another three or four especially in the first half, because we had some big, big chances. That’s going to be crucial and looking at the table and how tight it is, [goal difference] is going to be really important. We’re in a good position, we still have a lot to do, so one more.”
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