PLAYER RATINGS | Arsenal 6 – 0 Lens: The Gunners fire themselves into the UCL knockouts as Lens fail to qualify

Arsenal were hoping to secure qualification from Group B as they hosted Lens at the Emirates on matchday 5 of the UEFA Champions League. However, Lens arrived full of confidence after making the Gunners misfire in the reverse fixture with a historic 2-1 win. A win wouldn’t be enough to take Lens to second in the group due to their head-to-head record with PSV. 

Havertz had the first big chance of the game for Arsenal after some great work from Tomiyasu with an overlapping run. Saka released the ball to the Japanese international who managed to pick out the former Chelsea man in the area but his header was narrowly wide of Samba’s goal. 

The German would soon have a second chance to give Arsenal the lead and he took it. Gabriel Jesus managed to nod on a Tomiyasu ball into the area to leave Havertz unmarked in the area with an easy tap-in beyond Samba who was helpless. The Gunners gained a deserved lead after a dominant opening 15 minutes.

Arsenal continued their dominance and soon doubled their lead. Bukayo Saka did brilliantly to cut inside and drive into the penalty area. Danso failed to dispossess the England international and with Gradit joining the pursuit this allowed Saka to pick out Jesus who feinted well before putting the ball into the back of the net. It would be a quickfire double for Arsenal to make it 3-0 with Saka this time turning from provider to goalscorer. A major stroke of luck saw Samba parry Martinelli’s shot onto his chest who unknowingly put the ball home to make it three. 

Lens’ defence was all over the place and Tomiyasu continued to influence the game finding Gabriel Martinelli with a stunning pass. This allowed the Brazilian to cut inside and stand up Frankowski before bending the ball superbly