Arteta's supersubs fuel belief - and echo the Invincibles

Arsenal's replacements have scored in five consecutive games, a run of success that recalls fabled 2004-05 season

- David Hytner

Gabriel Martinelli started the sequence when he came off the bench to open the scoring in Arsenal’s 2-0 Champions League win at Athletic Bilbao last month.

He continued it when he came on again in their next game to conjure the stoppage-time equaliser against Manchester City in the Premier League. And together with everyone at Arsenal, not least Mikel Arteta, who has not stopped talking about the importance of "finishers", he can luxuriate in how it has grown.

When Bukayo Saka was introduced to score the clinching goal in Wednesday’s 2-0 Champions League victory over Olympiakos, it was the fifth match in succession that an Arsenal substitute had found the net. Game three had seen Leandro Trossard seal the 2-0 Carabao Cup win at Port Vale while game four featured Mikel Merino's equaliser in the 2-1 victory at Newcastle. You have to go back to the beginning of the 2004-05 season for the last time that Arsenal had goals from the bench in five successive matches, which, of course, was Invincibles territory. Game numbers 41 to 45 of the fabled 49-match unbeaten league run were marked by goals, in wins, from substitutes: Robert Pires (twice), José Antonio Reyes (twice) and Dennis Bergkamp.