Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta believes that such a dominant victory will only boost his team’s confidence.
It seems like a different Arsenal has emerged with a change in competition. After failing to win their last two Premier League matches, the team showed their fearsome side in the Champions League. They crushed PSV Eindhoven on their own turf, setting a record. According to Arteta, such a commanding performance has given their confidence a significant boost.
In the first leg of the Champions League Round of 16 on Tuesday, Arsenal won 7-1. They became the first team in tournament history to score seven or more goals in an away knockout match.
While Arsenal has delivered a brilliant performance in the Champions League, their form in the Premier League has been off. They failed to score in their last two matches against West Ham United and Nottingham Forest. They drew with Forest but lost to West Ham.
Arsenal has fallen far behind in the Premier League title race, now 13 points behind leaders Liverpool.
However, they are progressing well in the Champions League. Unless something unexpected happens in the second leg, Arsenal is almost certain to reach the quarter-finals, where they will face either Atlético Madrid or Real Madrid.
After the fantastic victory over PSV, Arteta said that his team is now even more confident.
“Of course, such a win brings us a lot of joy, confidence, and belief. And in football, it’s not about what we did three days ago or today, what matters is what we do tomorrow or at Old Trafford, and whether we can perform well and win again.”
“Tonight is for enjoying, because it was an excellent performance, an incredible scoreline, so we deserve to celebrate, and now we need to take it and keep improving as a team.”
Although Arteta is pleased with the record-setting win in the Champions League, he remains grounded. He reminded that there’s more to achieve.
“We’ve done something that hasn’t been done before. So, it’s great to be part of this record (Arsenal’s biggest away win in the Champions League). But as a team, we want to achieve much more, which is far more important than this.”
In the second leg of the Round of 16, Arsenal will face PSV at home next Wednesday. Before that, they play Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday.
