Arsenal: Mikel Arteta to receive massive boost with Champions League guarantee within touching distance | OneFootball

Gunners are on course to seal a top eight finish in the Champions League

Mikel Arteta oversaw a 3-0 win for Arsenal in the Champions League.

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Despite the samba music that accompanied Arsenal’s training session on Tuesday, this win over Dinamo Zagreb was not like watching Brazil.

They did not, though, and instead Arsenal cruised their way to a victory that should guarantee them a top-fight finish in this new Champions League format.

Arsenal are currently third in the league phase and only a freak set of circumstances would see them fall out of the top eight after next week’s final game in Girona.

Indeed, before the start of the season, Opta ran 50,000 simulations of the new format and in 98 per cent of those, the 16 points Arsenal have now was enough to finish in the top eight.

A point in Girona next week will guarantee Arsenal a top-eight finish and eliminate the small chance of them somehow sliding down the table.

Kai Havertz enjoyed a strong performance on Wednesday night.

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That will be valuable to the Gunners as it will mean they miss the play-off round next month and go straight into the hat for the last 16.

Two less games will be music to Mikel Arteta’s ears given the injury issues that Arsenal have had this season, with Myles Lewis-Skelly the latest to be struck down after he was unable to complete training on Tuesday.

The Gunners now should, at least, have a chance to rest next month by missing the Champions League play-offs.

They play the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final at Newcastle on February 5 and then they are not in action after that until 10 days later when they travel to Leicester. A warm-weather break to Dubai can easily be squeezed in.

Arsenal started sharply, here, and within two minutes they were ahead. It was a slick goal too, the type the Gunners have struggled to score in recent weeks.

Gabriell Martinelli, not for the first time in this game, skipped past his full-back and his cross found Havertz. The German set the ball to Rice and his sweet half-volley found the net.

The Gunners controlled the game from there, dominating possession, but they created little before the end of the first-half. Gabriel headed wide from a corner and Havertz did the same from Oleksandr Zinchenko’s cross.

Havertz got his goal after the break, though, and once again it came from out wide. Martinelli, who was bright all game, produced a perfect cross to land right on Havertz’s head.

Rice had a similar opportunity from the other flank, with Ethan Nwaneri picking him out, but he was not as clinical.

In the end, it was Odegaard who wrapped up the win. Leandro Trossard’s deflected cross found the Norwegian and he had the simplest of finishes from a yard out.