LONDON — While Arsenal are still searching for a statement win to announce their Premier League title credentials, the wait for a UEFA Champions League equivalent is over.
For almost an hour on Tuesday night, Atlético Madrid’s visit to Emirates Stadium was the combative, gritty contest many anticipated beforehand. And then, an explosion happened: The house that Atlético coach Diego Simeone has stoically built over almost 14 years was shattered by four goals in 14 minutes, and the Gunners won 4-0. The expanded, bloated format of this group stage dilutes the importance of early results on paper, but the effect this could have on Arsenal’s young group aiming to finally add trophies to years of progress might be profound.
Simeone’s side was beaten 4-0 at Benfica last season but is rarely handed a second-half drubbing like this. “We competed very well until the first Arsenal goal,” he said afterward. “After that we could have defended better. They did very well and they got their goals. And of course set pieces are so important in football, and it can be key in this competition, because it comes down to fine margins in terms of taking the game in your control or not.
“And it is not down to bad luck, but mistakes, so they made the most of our mistakes, took their chances and all their big chances turned into goals.”
Arsenal’s set-piece prowess is common knowledge. While the Premier League has been unable to find an answer — Arsenal’s 37 goals from corners since the start of the 2023-24 season is 16 more than anyone else — surely Simeone, the game’s finest defensive coach, could do so.
It appeared for a while that would be the case. And the answer was simple, if extremely difficult to execute: don’t give them an opportunity. Arsenal had just one corner in the opening 45 minutes. Declan Rice‘s 57th-minute free kick that Gabriel Magalhães headed in was, as defined by Opta, Arsenal’s first chance from a set piece all night.
The goal opened the floodgates. Gabriel Martinelli curled in a sublime second seven minutes later before a brace from Viktor Gyökeres, who ended a 601-minute goal drought at club level, landed Arsenal the sort of scoreline that will make Europe sit up and take notice. Those four goals were more of a cold shower than anything Atlético experienced a day earlier when the hot water was briefly unavailable after their training session at Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal’s summer spending spree led many to believe they now possess one of the best squads in Europe. But in grinding their way to the top of the table in England, they had not produced the performances to justify that hype. This will serve as a reference point for the future, a night when a couple of those new signings felt more at home. Martín Zubimendi patrolled the midfield with authority. Gyökeres got the goals his manager, Mikel Arteta, believed his display warranted, even if the first owed everything to a large deflection off Dávid Hancko and the second was an unmissable close-range finish off his thigh.
“He deserved it because everything that we were seeing in terms of what he was bringing to the team and how much he was helping the team in many areas, apart from scoring goals in the last few weeks, there was no debate about that,” Arteta said. “It was about keeping that belief in himself, that emotional state that he can enjoy and play freely.
“I think we’ve become much more unpredictable. He’s so physical, open, his face is for everybody. The way he presses the ball, holds the ball, that’s phenomenal. And then there’s the icing on the cake and the biggest thing that we’re going to debate about him is goals. He’s scored two very different ones today, and hopefully he starts to get some momentum and a good run of goals.”
Bukayo Saka spoke last season of a desire to one day win the Ballon d’Or and be considered one of the world’s greatest wingers. His all-round performance merited that here; he was constant menace down the right, but of equal importance to Arteta was Saka’s work off the ball. Martinelli was equally dynamic in this regard: His eight ball recoveries was three more than any player on either side.
Nothing is decided in October, but the baton may be passing from Simeone to Arteta as the most defensively resolute coach in Europe. Arsenal have conceded just one shot on target in their last three games. Moreover, they have conceded three goals in all competitions, putting them on track to break multiple records. That tally is the fewest Arsenal have conceded in their first 12 matches in their 138-year history.
Of course, they have broken various club records before under Arteta, only to end up empty-handed. All that matters this time is that they get over the line. Nights like this suggest they may be better placed than ever to do so.
