Arteta needs to take a clever approachplaceholder image
Arteta needs to take a clever approach | Getty Images
Arsenal could be in for a nightmare scenario if they are not careful.
It was a well-contested game for the most part, but while the Gunners were good value for their win overall, they were particularly ruthless during a superb 14 minutes that saw them score four goals thanks to Gabriel Magalhaes, Gabriel Martinelli and a brace from Viktor Gyokeres..
There are five games remaining in the league phase, but Arsenal are looking very good for automatic qualification for the knockout stage. There will be a jostle for seeding, though, and Arsenal will want to keep up their winning ways when they face Slavia Praha in Prague next time out.
The Gunners will not have Martin Zubimendi available for that game due to the Spaniard picking up his third yellow card of the Champions League campaign on Tuesday night, leading to a one-game suspension.
That well-timed yellow card will mean Zubimendi will miss the trip to Prague, but he will be available to face Bayern Munich in a much trickier game after that. A potential issue for Arsenal, though, is that Declan Rice remains on two yellow cards in the competition.
If Rice was to pick up a yellow card against Slavia Praha, he would miss the Bayern Munich game, and the Gunners cannot afford for that to happen. With that in mind, Arteta should surely consider resting Rice for the trip to Prague and playing the likes of Christian Norgaard and Mikel Merino in the absence of his first choice holding midfielders.
Rice can still be on the bench in care of emergency, but risking him getting a yellow card and missing that Bayern game would be a questionable decision.
Arteta on Atletico win
Speaking after the win over Atletico, Arteta said: “I'm extremely happy and proud of the performance and the results against a really good side. I was very impressed when I analysed them and what I've seen today about them as well. So, I knew about the difficulty of it.
“It required a lot of aggression and a lot of patience as well, and the way they managed the context of the game and the way they can manipulate their behaviour was really impressive. With it being 0-0 at half-time, even though we generated two or three big chances, we had to stay patient, but at the same time, increase a little bit, set some areas to damage them more. We've done it, and then in this Champions League, I think we were very effective as well.”
He added on the competition in his team: “This is what we need, and when you look at the top teams in Europe, that's what they have. We have to manage that in a really cohesive system, when everybody understands that they're going to have different roles throughout the game, or in different games.
“But at the end, the outcome is to earn the right to win games, and to win games. That's the ultimate goal, and we are seeking the same thing.”
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