Mikel Arteta praised his Arsenal side’s dominant display after Martin Odegaard’s decisive strike gave the Gunners a hard-fought win. Victory 1-0 away against Napoli in theirs Champions League opener
The Gunners controlled proceedings at the Estadio Diego Armando Maradona, dominating the territory and scoring 26 tries while limiting the hosts to just five shots all night.
Despite overwhelming superiority, Arsenal were repeatedly unable to convert their openings, with Bukayo Saka, Mikel Merino, Piero Hincapié and Noni Madueke all missing clear looks.
The breakthrough finally came with 15 minutes remaining when substitute Christos Tzolis helped orchestrate a fine move, allowing captain Odegaard to step up and fire home the crucial winner.
“The team was fantastic”
“It was a fully deserved three points. The performance probably doesn’t reflect the result, the team was excellent,” said Arteta.
“We showed quality at times to break them down and it was a shame because we missed so many great chances. On any other day the result would have been different. We should have done it differently because of the amount of chances we created.”
The Spanish manager also praised his match-winning skipper, highlighting the midfielder’s growing ability to score decisive goals when his side need them most to maintain their 100% start to the campaign.
“Martin is contributing with goals that are impacting results, which is what we want from our attacking players, being decisive and he was certainly that again today,” added Arteta.
The narrow win gets Arsenal’s European trip off to a winning start, rewarding their territorial control and providing a vital boost ahead of their next Premier League trip to face Sunderland.