Club Brugge 0 – 3 Arsenal

Stunning strikes from Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli helped Arsenal beat Club Brugge 3-0 and maintain their perfect record in the Champions League.

The victory moves Mikel Arteta’s side three points clear of Bayern Munich at the top of the league phase table with two games remaining, with their place in the last 16 all but confirmed.

After a pedestrian start in Belgium, Arsenal suddenly sprung to life when Madueke picked the ball up near the halfway line, drove forward and rifled his shot from outside the area in off the underside of the crossbar to give his side the lead.

On any given night, it would be the pick of the goals but Martinelli rivalled that effort when he cut in to curl in a stunner of his own after Madueke’s header had already added to Arsenal’s advantage.

While the goals will grab the headlines, Brugge might feel slightly aggrieved at the scoreline after testing the makeshift Arsenal defence – consisting of midfielder Christian Norgaard pairing Piero Hincapie at centre back due to their growing injury crisis – on multiple occasions before the game was ultimately put out of their reach.

David Raya was heavily relied on to keep his fifth clean sheet of the competition intact, making seven saves in the game after only facing nine shots on target in the five games prior to their trip to the Jaybreydel Stadion.

Regardless, Arteta was able to rotate his injury-laden squad, keeping Bukayo Saka and Riccardo Calafiori off the pitch until late in the game, with focus now shifting to Saturday’s clash against Wolverhampton Wanderers as they look to get back to winning ways in the Premier League.

Madueke: We can win Champions League and the Premier League!

Arsenal winger Noni Madueke speaking to TNT Sports:

“We’re fighting on all fronts. I feel like we can compete on all four fronts. We can win this competition. We can win the league as well. That has to be our aim. We’re in a good place at the moment.

“We’re a tight group; we want each other to do well. We know we have top players all around the squad; it’s about the collective, not about the individual. We all know we have a part to play, that is the good thing about this team.”

Story of the match in stats…

What’s coming up for Arsenal?

Arsenal face Inter Milan at the San Siro on January 20 and Kairat Almaty at the Emirates Stadium on January 28 in their two remaining league phase games.