Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta singled out Eddie Nketiah and Fabio Vieira for praise following the Gunners’ 3-0 Europa League win over Bodo/Glimt.
Goals from Nketiah, Vieira and Rob Holding ensured Arsenal comfortably saw off the Norwegian outfit whilst maintaining their 100 percent start to the group.
Arteta rang the changes ahead of the clash at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday night, making the scoreline even more impressive as his side continued their rich vein of form.
“I’m really happy,” Arteta told his post-match press conference. “Today we played a different opponent, a difficult opponent, I mentioned that before and I think everybody saw that.
“We made a lot of changes, eight I think, and I’m really happy winning the game, scoring three goals and a clean sheet, but overall as well you could sense in certain moments that that connection, that timing – this needed time on the pitch. It was a little bit missing in certain moments to be more dominant in the game.”
Red-hot striker Gabriel Jesus started the clash on the bench but was decisive when he entered the pitch as a second-half substitute.
The Brazilian danced his way past two defenders before putting the ball on a plate for Vieira to fire home the Gunners’ third.
Nketiah struck for the fourth Europa League game on the spin that he had started while Vieira’s strike was his first at the Emirates and the summer signing’s second of the season, leaving Arteta delighted with the pair’s contribution.
The boss continued: “Eddie is always ready. Every time he plays you look at the numbers and the stats he produces, it’s phenomenal, and today he had a chance to play and I think he took it really well.
“Vieira is understanding better every day what we want to do. There were a few moments in defending and in terms of organisation that we need to work a lot on him, but you see the talent, you see the creativity and how dangerous he is in the final third.”
Arsenal travel to the far north of Norway in the return fixture next Thursday and will face very different conditions.
Bodo is located in the Arctic Circle with the Aspmyra Stadium holding just 8,270 fans, and the team play on an artificial surface.
And Arteta knows that Thursday night’s 3-0 win will have little bearing on next week’s game.
Arteta added: “It will be in a different context. It’s in their home and it’s an astroturf pitch and we’re not used to it so we’ll have to adapt quickly.
“You saw today that it is a team that is really willing to play, that have really good patterns of play, good players, a really clear philosophy and again, so it will be tough.”
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News Summary:
- Gabriel Jesus thrills again but Mikel Arteta reserves special praise for ‘phenomenal’ Eddie Nketiah and Fabio Vieira after Arsenal’s 3-0 Europa League victory over Bodo/Glimt
- Check all news and articles from the latest Football updates.