Arsenal end drought with record-breaking win at PSV

Boring, boring Arsenal? Not during carnival week in Eindhoven.

- RICHARD JOLLY

Many a colourful disguise has been donned in this corner of the Netherlands in the last few days and Mikel Arteta’s roundheads took the guise of cavaliers for an evening of riotous, and at times ridiculous, fun. The team who couldn’t score became the first in Champions League history to score seven goals in an away knockout match.

After two goals in four games, Arsenal had two in three minutes in the first half, a further two in three at the start of the second. They had five within 50 minutes, a fifth straight Champions League win booked and a date in Madrid in their diaries, whether to face Real or Atletico. No other visitor to PSV Eindhoven in Europe had scored more than four goals. Arsenal got seven and had two more disallowed. All, of course, without a specialist striker, though each of Arteta’s front three struck, a midfielder got a brace and full-backs bookended the scoring.

With Declan Rice dominant and Ethan Nwaneri precocious, PSV proved ideal opponents, not least for the goal-shy duo of Martin Odegaard and Leandro Trossard, who each found the net, while the stand-in striker Mikel Merino scored for the third time in four games with calm assurance. Freed from their faltering pursuit of Liverpool, Arsenal set about enjoying themselves.