Mikel Arteta hailed Arsenal’s 5-1 win over Sporting CP as a landmark victory as he praised his players for finding their ruthless streak in front of goal.
Arsenal ended a four-game goal drought on European soil as they routed the Portuguese champions, handing them their first home defeat at the Jose Alvalade Stadium in 418 days.
The victory lifts Arsenal back into the top eight automatic qualification positions of the Champions League group stage and Arteta was in no doubt that this was the best European away result of his tenure.
“For sure,” he said. “Especially against the opponent that we played in their home. I don’t think they’ve lost here in 18 months. They’ve been in top form, they’ve been better than everyone they’ve played here. To play to that level with the fluidity that we’ve done today, very pleased.
“The performance was there a few times when we have played big teams. We played PSG and we were exceptional again. We played Bayern and were exceptional. But we made some mistakes and it cost us. That’s the level. We have to be able to cope. You have to make it happen. That creates belief. We need that consistency because the ability is there.”
Arsenal lost 1-0 to Inter in their previous Champions League outing but Arteta was happy with the performance and believes the different was their ruthlessness in the final third.
“It’s true that the result is very different,” Arteta said.
“But with the performance and identity of what I saw against Inter I was very pleased. I knew that in that pathway good things were going to happen in Europe.
“Today we’ve been able to do that and replicate it and be more efficient in the opposition half. Very pleased because the team has played with so much courage. They are so good and watching them live I realise how good they are.
“You cannot speculate. We had a period after 39, 40 minutes where we did that and I had to stop it because that’s the tendency that the team wants to do, to control it. We’re not very good at that. Unfortunately they scored very early in the second half and that created some momentum. We dealt with it really well. It’s a big performance, a big win and we’re really happy.”
Arsenal controlled Sporting’s 24-goal striker Viktor Gyokeres well but there was a late injury scare when centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes went off clutching his leg.
“We don’t know,” Arteta said. “We had to make the change because he was feeling some discomfort. I was about to make the change for Raz (Raheem Sterling), poor thing, I couldn’t make the sub. We had to get him out.”
Arsenal return to action against West Ham United on Saturday.
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The Briefing: Sporting 1 Arsenal 5 – Statement win, majestic Odegaard and keeping Gyokeres quiet
(Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP via Getty Images)
