Mikel Arteta hails a ‘special night’ as Arsenal boss revels in the ‘joy, confidence and belief’ gained by thrashing PSV 7-1 away from home

Mikel Arteta hailed a ‘special night’ for Arsenal as they obliterated PSV Eindhoven 7-1 on Tuesday night to secure their biggest Champions League away win in history.

The Gunners put their striker woes behind them to go 3-0 up after just 31 minutes thanks to goals from Jurrien Timber, Ethan Nwaneri and makeshift forward Mikel Merino.

Noa Lang struck for PSV from the penalty spot just before the break, but it was one-way traffic in the second half as the visitors scored a further four goals to seal a statement victory away from home in the last-16 first leg.

Captain Martin Odegaard got on the scoresheet twice, adding to goals from Leandro Trossard and substitute Riccardo Calafiori. The second leg is at the Emirates next Wednesday.

Tuesday’s remarkable result leaves Arteta’s men with one foot in the competition’s quarter-finals where they are set to face either Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid.

Arteta said: ‘I really enjoyed the match. Thank you to the players for the performance that they put in. It was a big night for us against a really good side.

Gunners manager Mikel Arteta pictured applauding his team’s travelling fans after full-time

Arteta appeared to be in an excellent mood when he spoke at a post-game press conference

‘The way they (PSV) went through in the last round against Juventus (4-3 on aggregate) was really impressive. The manner that we’ve done it, the way we played, the goals that we scored. Thank you because it was a special night.

‘It’s obviously given us a lot of joy, confidence and belief. In football, it’s not what we did three days ago or today, it’s going to be what we do tomorrow.’

When asked if he had seen seven goals coming, he quipped, ‘I knew it was coming’, before adding: ‘No. That’s the beauty of it. Nobody in this room if I give you an envelope and say, “Can you predict what’s going to happen tomorrow and who is going to score?” [would predict that], that’s the beauty of football.

‘You do very well today, put your head down, be humble, analyse how you can improve because the next game is going to be completely different to this one, and nobody can write the script, unfortunately, even if we would like to.’

Arsenal play Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday, and Arteta is confident of getting a result.

Arteta said: ‘We go to Old Trafford with how we behave, how we play and are able to win a game. That’s it — enjoy tonight because it was a very impressive performance and an unbelievable score. We deserve that and I’ll take it and keep improving as a team.’