Arsenal
claimed their sixth win from six in the Champions League on Wednesday night, as
they overcame Club Brugge 3-0 away from home in Belgium.
The manager
made five changes to his squad that lost to Aston Villa on Saturday and one of
those players, Noni Madueke, opened the scoring with a thunderous strike.
In the first
half, Noni Madueke scored a piledriver. The England winger shrugged off one
defender before smashing a shot from 20 yards which went in off the crossbar.
He also
scored a header after the break to put Arsenal in control, before Gabriel
Martinelli scored a stunning strike to make it a record-smashing five
consecutive Champions League games with a goal.
Club Brugge
did threaten Arsenal's much-changed backline just before the break but shots
from Christos Tzolis and Aleksandar Stankovic were saved by David Raya to keep
the Gunners in the lead.
Madueke got
his second goal of the evening just two minutes into the second half when he
nodded in Martin Zubimendi's excellent cross, and Gabriel Martinelli ensured it
would be a comfortable end to the game when he curled in a superb strike in the
56th minute for Arsenal's third.
The win
leaves Arsenal on 18 points, two more than was required for a top-eight finish
last season, meaning they are likely to avoid the play-offs in February and can
focus on preparing for the last 16.
While making
his first appearance since January and ending a 342-day layoff following an ACL
, Gabriel Jesus, came close to adding a fourth when his shot cannoned off the
crossbar but three goals proved to be enough for the Gunners.
David Raya
was heavily relied on to keep his fifth clean sheet of the competition intact,
making seven saves in the game after only facing nine shots on target in the
five games prior to their trip to the Jaybreydel Stadion.
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