Mikel Arteta praised Arsenal’s dominant display after Martin Odegaard’s decisive goal gave the Gunners a narrow 1-0 win away to Napoli in their encounter. UEFA Champions League opener.
The Gunners dominated the match at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium, dominating the ground and making 26 attempts while limiting the hosts to just five shots all evening.
Despite the overwhelming advantage, Arsenal repeatedly failed to convert their chances into goals, with Bukayo Saka, Mikel Merino, Piero Hincapie and Noni Madueke all missing a clear sight of goal.
The breakthrough finally came 15 minutes from time when substitute Christos Tzoulis helped orchestrate a brilliant move, allowing captain Odegaard to step up and score the decisive winner.
“The team was great”
Arteta said, “The three points were completely deserved. The performance may not reflect the result. The team was great.”
“We showed quality in a lot of moments to break them down and it was unfortunate because we wasted so many great chances. On any other day the result would be different. We should have done it differently because of the number of chances we created.”
The Spanish coach also singled out his match-winning captain for special praise, highlighting the midfielder’s growing knack for scoring crucial goals when his team needs them most to maintain their 100 per cent start to the season.
Arteta added: “Martin contributes goals that affect the results, which is what we want from our attacking players: to be decisive, and he certainly was like that again today.”
The narrow win gets Arsenal’s European journey off to a winning start, rewarding their regional dominance and adding vital momentum ahead of their next Premier League trip to face Sunderland.
