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Timber hails team effort in Athletic Club victory

Jurrien Timber hailed the defensive work of the whole side as we kept our fourth clean sheet of the season in a 2-0 win over Athletic Club in the Champions League

We battled to victory at a raucous San Mames in our opening Champions League match, standing firm at the Cauldron of Noise as goals from Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard sent us back to N5 with three points in the bag.

The latest shutout means we've conceded just 18 goals in our past 25 matches and during his post-match interview, Jurrien was quick to praise the collective defensive work, not just the efforts of the back four.

He said: "It’s not just the defence, also David [Raya] of course and the whole team. I think an amazing effort while we're defending. I think the standards there are really high, which is amazing to see. It's a privilege to be a part of.

"I think we've seen it last year, every point counts. To start here with three points is amazing. Now rest, recover, because we have a big game on Sunday again. Looking forward to it in our own stadium."

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Report: Athletic Club 0-2 Arsenal](https://www.arsenal.com/fixture/arsenal/2025-Sep-16/athletic-club-0-2-arsenal-match-report?utm_source=arsenaldotcom&utm_medium=embedded-article&utm_campaign=news)

It was the substitutes that did the damage in Bilbao as Trossard played Martinelli through on goal as the Brazilian netted his first of the season. With four minutes to play, Gabi found Leo inside the box as the Beglian put the shine on a well earned victory - much to the delight of Timber.

He said: "But they look happy and they did amazing. I think we have a deep squad, a great squad, so when players come on, they can make a difference like this, it's going to really help us this season.

"The first Champions League win, which is very important, of course. It's not easy coming here, as you could see. It was a tough one, but we got the three points. I have to say, big credit to Martinelli and Trossard, they did amazing."

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