Arsenal may well have cemented their place as the best side in Europe following their remarkably comfortable 3-1 Champions League win over Bayern Munich on Wednesday (November 26).
Jurrien Timber have the hosts the lead in the 22nd minute before Bayern wonderkid Lennart Karl restored parity ten minutes later. The two sides went into half time on level terms, but that didn’t last long.
Substitutes Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli both scored in the span of 11 minutes to earn a memorable win over the German giants and go top of the league phase. So, here are three things we learned.
Squad depth pays off
On paper, the two sides have similar levels of quality in their starting 11, although injuries certainly played a role, with Luis Diaz and Jamal Musiala out for Bayern, and Gabriel and Viktor Gyokeres out for Arsenal.
Beyond that, Mikel Arteta had genuine game changers he could call of the bench while Vincent Kompany was left scraping the barrel, and that’s exactly what happened. Madueke was called upon after Leandro Trossard picked up a knock, while Martinelli replaced captain Bukayo Saka.
Bayern simply couldn’t compete with that level of depth. After his side went 2-1 down, Kompany looked to his bench and brought on Chelsea loanee Nicolas Jackson and young defensive midfielder Tom Bischof. It was night and day.
This is the power of the Premier League. English clubs are pulling further and further away from their European counterparts thanks in large parts to the intensity of the league and their immense spending power. Expect more results like this across the season.
Eberechi Eze IS Arsenal’s number ten
What a week it’s been for Eze. After scoring a hattrick in the first North London derby of the season as Arsenal battered Tottenham, the side he turned down in favour of a return to the Gunners, 4-1, he stepped up a few days later.
The England international ended the game having run the show for Arsenal in the number ten role, providing the assist for Martinelli’s goal with a perfect ball over the top that completely caught out Bayern’s defence, allowing the Brazilian the touch the ball past Manuel Neuer, who was closer the half-way line than his own box.
It’s starting to feel like Eze has nailed that number ten spot down at Arsenal. Kai Havertz has been out injured since the start of the season, but even when fit he’s rarely been as effective as Eze has over the past week.
Ethan Nwaneri will get some minutes over the festive period, but he’s still so young. It’s now Eze’s position to lose, and if he keeps this level of performance up, that’s looking unlikely.
“Whose name is Harry Kane?”
It was a very rare off day for the prolific Englishman, and he won’t be happy it happened against the old enemy. Kane was locked up, having the least number of touches of any outfield player to play 90 minutes (30).
Kane didn’t even have a single shot. For a man that has scored 27 goals in 24 games across all competitions at club level, that a remarkable stat, and praise should be heaped on an Arsenal defence that didn’t give him a moment’s peace.
There won’t be many more nights like this for Kane, however. With St Pauli coming up in the Bundesliga this weekend, expect arguably the best striker in the world to get a couple.