Mikel Arteta makes honest substitution admission after Arsenal rout Atletico Madrid

Arsenal thrashed Atletico Madrid 4-0 to continue their perfect record in the Champions League on Tuesday night as Mikel Arteta benefitted from not making a planned change

Mikel Arteta admitted that he was about to substitute Myles Lewis-Skelly before the Arsenal left-back produced a brilliant assist to help put his side 2-0 up against Atletico Madrid.

The Gunners triumphed 4-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday night as they plundered four goals in 13 second-half minutes. Gabriel Magalhaes put them in front with a header from Declan Rice’s corner before Lewis-Skelly’s driving run and weighted pass allowed Gabriel Martinelli to curl in a second.

Viktor Gyokeres then ended his 624-minute goal drought by stabbing in a third via a deflection and grabbed another with a close-range finish from a corner. The result ensured a third successive win without conceding in the Champions League for Arsenal, who also sit top of the Premier League.

Speaking to Prime Video after the game, Arteta was asked whether he was about to replace Lewis-Skelly with Riccardo Calafiori when he created the crucial second goal. “That’s football, yes,” he replied with a smile. “We had to make other changes because there are other players that we have to manage.”

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Academy product Lewis-Skelly enjoyed a breakthrough campaign with Arsenal last season, but has found starts harder to come by this year, with Calafiori favoured at left-back. Yet, given the chance to shine against Atleti, he took his opportunity and ended up playing the full 90 minutes.

Asked about Lewis-Skelly’s assist for Martinelli’s goal, Arteta added: “That’s him, that’s his quality, the way he carries the ball, the ability he has to release the ball in the right moment, he was superb today and it was really good to see those two changes (Lewis-Skelly and Martinelli) and the impact they had on the team.”

The main talking point for Arsenal was Gyokeres, who ended a nine-match goalless streak for club and country by scoring twice in two minutes. The £64million summer signing needed a bit of good fortune for the first, which went into the corner of the net via a hefty deflection, but Arteta felt the luck was deserved.

“I’m delighted because he fully deserves it, for his work rate and everything he brings to the team is outstanding and he fully deserves it,” he said. “His demands on himself are really high but we value a lot for the team and you can see that today, the reaction of his team-mates. Hopefully it is the start of a beautiful sequence.”

There was also some praise for Rice, who set up Gabriel’s opener and found the centre-back again with a corner which ended in Gyokeres scoring the fourth goal. “It was superb,” Arteta said of his set piece delivery.

“We could have scored in the first half but to have that ability to score those types of goals and different players are scoring. We want to continue and improve.”

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