Arsenal 6-0 Lens: Gunners steamroll French side with FIVE first-half goals and six different scorers as they seal top spot in Champions League group with a game to spare

• Arsenal beat Lens 6-0 on Wednesday night to top their Champions League group
• All six of their goals were scored by different people, with five in the first half 
• Inside Ange’s Spurs: Listen to It’s All Kicking Off on how he transformed the club 

Apparently, Arsenal were easier on the eye last season. Apparently.

Mikel Arteta’s apparent ploy to stifle Arsenal; to repress their attacking mechanisms in search of making them harder to beat has been discussed at length this week. There was very little evidence of that edict here.

Instead, we caught glimpse of this vibrant Arsenal team in all its glory. Penetration, intensity and flair. And goals. Loads of them.

As messages go, this was emphatic as they come. Arsenal are through to the Champions League knockout stages; their passage booked with a display that should strike fear into the rest of Europe.

After a six year hiatus from the continent’s premier club tournament, their qualification into the last-16 shouldn’t have been taken for granted.

Arsenal beat Lens 6-0 on Wednesday night to top their Champions League group

Kai Havertz opened the scoring for Arsenal in the first 13 minutes of the game on Wednesday 

Gabriel Jesus extended Arsenal’s lead in the 21st minute of the game to see them go 2-0 up

Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka managed to find the back of the net after taking a few knocks

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Champions League football is unforgiving; particularly when you’ve not had it consistently. Just ask Manchester United and Newcastle.

Yet, they’ve reached the business end with minimal fuss and a game to spare. We shouldn’t be surprised, of course. This is a team bursting with brilliance.

William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes are Rolls Royce central defenders. Declan Rice is one of European football’s elite central midfielders. Martin Odegaard is poetry in motion. Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Jesus ooze dynamism and edge in attack.

An eye-catching blend of power, guile and ability – a mixture fast becoming the envy of Europe.

When the draw for the final stages takes place next month, you can bet your bottom dollar everyone will want to avoid Arteta’s juggernaut.

‘We’ve qualified in a really convincing way,’ said the Arsenal boss. ‘It’s great we were able to win this way. The job is done.’

On the prospect of resting players for the final group game versus PSV Eindhoven, Arteta added: ‘It’s great (topping the group with a game to spare) because the schedule we have at the moment is crazy.’

What could have been an uncomfortable night here in north London, particularly given Lens won the reverse fixture, transpired into one of luxury for the Gunners.

Gabriel Martinelli scored another for Arsenal just four minutes after Saka found the net

Martin Odegaard looked like poetry in motion on Wednesday and ended up on the scoresheet

Any pre-match anxieties created by PSV’s win in Sevilla, that meant Arsenal needed a point, were ruthlessly dealt with in the space of an incapsulating 45 minute spell of callous attacking football. Five goals by half-time. It could have been eight.

By the end of it all, you almost fell sorry for Lens. Like a rabbit caught in the headlights they were motionless, helplessly awaiting their fate.

MATCH FACTS:  

ARSENAL (433): Raya 6; Tomiyasu 7.5 (White 46, 6.5), Saliba 7, Gabriel 7, Zinchenko 7 (Kiwior 46, 6.5); Odegaard 7.5, Rice 7.5 (Jorginho 75), Havertz 7.5; Saka 8 (Nelson 66, 6.5), Jesus 8.5 (Nketiah 82), Martinelli 8. Subs: Ramsdale, Hein, Cedric, Trossard, Elneny, Lewis-Skelly, Nwaneri.

Arteta: 7.5

LENS (343): Samba 3; Gradit 5 (Khusanov 62, 5.5), Danso 4, Medina 5.5 (Machado 46, 5.5); Frankowski 4, Mendy 5 (Da Costa 75), Abdul Samed 5 (El Aynaoui 46, 5), Haidara 5; Sotoca 5 (Thomasson 46, 5), Wahi, Fulgini. Subs: Leca, Pandor, Aguilar, Diouf, Maouassa, Said. Booked: Khusanov, Mendy, Haidara.

Haise: 4

Referee: Artur Dias (POR) – 6.5

Arsenal showed no mercy. Cold-blooded and cut throat.

Lens didn’t help themselves. Their defending was more akin to what you’d find on nearby Hackney Marshes on a Sunday morning than here at the Emirates.

But any team in Europe would have struggled to contain the relentlessness and acceleration of Arsenal’s offensive assaults.

Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard were all on the scoresheet before the break as Arsenal became the first side in Champions League history to have as many as five different scorers – excluding own goals – in a match.

Takehiro Tomiyasu nabbed himself a couple of assists, his searching ball out to Martinelli to set-up Arsenal’s fourth unquestionably the pass of the night.

Lens had no answer, though Facundo Medina hit the upright towards the end of the first half.

This was the first time an English side has led by five or more goals in Champions League history.

Credit to the travelling supporters, they remained in good voice throughout despite the humiliation endured by their heroes on the pitch. They deserved better from their team.

As you’d expect the second half died a death, though Lens were buried way before the restart.

Ben White and Jakub Kiwior were thrown on at half-time, while Lens head coach Franck Haise made all his five substitutions inside 75 minutes.

Arsenal, who named Ethan Nwaneri, 16, and Myles Lewis-Skelly 17, as substitutes had one more goal in them – Jorginho stroking home from the spot after VAR adjudged that Abdukodir Khussanov had handled in the box. Six of the best for Arsenal.

Jorginho scored Arsenal’s final goal in the 86th minute of the game to cap off the evening

IT’S ALL KICKING OFF! 

It’s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.

It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.

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