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Arsenal send a message out across Europe with devastating opening night win

Arsenal have come racing out the blocks to beat PSV by a comfortable 4-0 scoreline to get their return to the Champions League off to the perfect start.

The Gunners were ahead inside the opening eight minutes of play, and never looked back as they continued to show exactly why they are one of the teams to watch in this season’s edition of the competition.

Bukayo Saka was the man to get our show on the road, latching onto the rebound after Martin Odegaard forced the save from Benitez in the opposition goal, and Jesus should really have made it two moments later when breaking through in on goal. We didn’t have to wait too long to see our lead doubled however, with Saka cutting it back across the edge of the box into Leandro Trossard who powered it low and hard into the bottom corner.

Our number nine did find the net next as we continued to punish our rivals for their attempts to attack in numbers, and we went into the break 3-0 up and flying.

We appeared to slow things down after the break however, whether that was down to the manager wanting to preserve energy ahead of the North London Derby this weekend or just reduce the risk of the comeback, and we were allowing our rivals very little of the ball to try and get themselves back into the game. Oleks Zinchenko and our three goalscorers from the first half were replaced as we looked to give the likes of Tomiyasu, Emile Smith Rowe, Jorginho and Reiss Nelson some game time, likely with the weekend’s clash in mind, but it was our captain who made it four.

We hit our rivals on the counter once again, and the move had looked to have broken down when ESR had overhit his through ball, but we managed to control the ball and get back into a dangerous position for the Norwegian to find space to get his shot away.

I must admit, I had some reservations about our side going into tonight’s clash, but those were quickly dashed by the early goal, and now have so much excitement about the remainder of the competition, and cannot wait to see just how far we can go this year.

Can we go all the way under Arteta?

This article first appeared on Just Arsenal and was syndicated with permission.

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