Arsenal: Mikel Arteta to receive massive boost with Champions League guarantee within touching distance
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Despite the samba music that accompanied Arsenal’s training session on Tuesday, this win over Dinamo Zagreb was not like watching Brazil. The Gunners got the job done and they ran out 3-0 winners thanks to goals from Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard.
Given this was a Dinamo team who had not played a competitive game for a month - and one that shipped nine goals at Bayern Munich earlier this season - you expected the floodgates to open after Rice’s opener inside two minutes. They did not, though, and instead Arsenal cruised their way to a victory that should guarantee them a top-fight finish in this new Champions League format.
Arsenal are currently third in the league phase and only a freak set of circumstances would see them fall out of the top eight after next week’s final game in Girona. Indeed, before the start of the season, Opta ran 50,000 simulations of the new format and in 98 per cent of those, the 16 points Arsenal have now was enough to finish in the top eight.
A point in Girona next week will guarantee Arsenal a top-eight finish and eliminate the small chance of them somehow sliding down the table. That will be valuable to the Gunners as it will mean they miss the play-off round next month and go straight into the hat for the last 16.
Two less games will be music to Mikel Arteta’s ears given the injury issues that Arsenal have had this season, with Myles Lewis-Skelly the latest to be struck down after he was unable to complete training on Tuesday. The Gunners now should, at least, have a chance to rest next month by missing the Champions League play-offs.
