Arteta: Viktor was incredible tonight

Mikel Arteta reserved special praise for Viktor Gyokeres after our Swedish striker played his part in our 2-0 win over Olympiacos on Wednesday night. 

Gunner's No. 14 showed all his strength to set up the first goal, shrugging off the attention of two defenders before hitting the post, allowing Gabriel Martinelli to tuck in from close range.

It came on the back of a similarly impressive display at St James’ Park at the weekend, and the manager was delighted with what he saw again. 

“He had an incredible performance,” he smiled. “As you said, apart from the goal, I think he did the rest of the things you ask for from a striker. The way he's linking with his teammates, the way he's opening spaces, the way he's threatening constantly the back line. He had three or four big situations where he could have scored a goal, so it will come.”

The second goal was created by Martin Odegaard, who was at the heart of everything in the midfield, making his first start since going off with a shoulder injury against Nottingham Forest last month. 

“He was great,” the boss said. “I think Martin was phenomenal today. He really took charge of the game in a really aggressive way, making things happen, putting people in front of goal on various occasions. So overall, the last two performances, 15 minutes in Newcastle and today, very good.”

Overall Mikel said he was happy with what he saw from his team, but that our efforts in that win over Newcastle started to take its toll in the second half: “I think we started the game really well, really fast, really aggressive, generated a few clear chances to score one, but don't really close the game.

“And after that we had the need of David – the first time basically they arrived [into the box], pulling off an incredible save to the deny the goal. And after that we had good moments of a lot of dominance, and other moments that we came a little bit flatter. And I think we paid a little bit the price of all the energy that we spent a few days ago in Newcastle. And you could sense that with some players, but luckily the changes helped us, the subs made an impact again; to lift the level again and I would have looked a little bit more composed and more of a threat. And again, Bukayo scored a goal to kill the game.”

In fact Bukayo’s goal from the bench means that substitutes have scored for us in five games in a row now – the first time that’s happened for more than 20 years. 

“You love the stats, guys, but it's a good one!” Mikel smiled. “I think it shows the mentality of the players that they are ready to come in and impact the game.”