Almighty Arsenal tarnish Lens: Arteta's mean machine serves cold-blooded vengeance

And I took that personally, as MJ used to say. After a disappointing 2-1 loss at Lens, Mikel Arteta's boys served a cold-blooded vengeance for the French side at Emirates on Wednesday.

Unstoppable Arsenal brushed aside the rival sensationally, rushing to a jaw-dropping 6-0 statement win to seal their knockout-round qualification.

Everything was decided before the break, as the Gunners netted an incredible five times in the first half. What makes this fantastic output even more stunning is the fact different players scored all goals and that Arsenal scored five goals out of just six attempts on target. Wow!

Havertz broke the deadlock smoothly 13 minutes into the game, and from that moment, we witnessed a cat-and-mouse game, with the hosts showcasing cutting-edge offensive football.

Interestingly enough, they let the ball to the visitors and opted for quick and impressive counters, from which they thumped them through Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli, Saka, and, finally, Odegaard. Each was nicer than the previous.

With the fixture wrapped up way before the end, the Spanish gaffer opted for reserves and substitutions to save his key players from possible injuries. It affected the game's tempo and rhythm, but not for a moment Lens were able to fight back or demonstrate at least a tiny bit of quality, which brought them that surprising win at home.

Jorginho sealed his side's dozen with a late penalty following a handball in Lens' area, which was given as a penalty after a short VAR check.

This statement win would mean much more for the North Londoners than just three points and guaranteed first place on the table.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Group stage - Matchday 5

Tuesday

Lazio - Celtic 2-0 (0-0)

/Immobile 82, 85/

Shakhtar - Antwerp 1-0 (1-0)

/Matviienko 12/

Feyenoord - Atl.Madrid 1-3 (0-1)

/Wieffer 77 - Geertruida 14 og, Hermoso 58, Gimenez 81 og/

AC Milan - Dortmund 1-3 (1-1)

/Chukwueze 37 - Reus 10 pen, Bynoe-Gittens 59, Adeyemi 69/

PSG - Newcastle 1-1 (0-1)

/Mbappe 90+8 pen - Isak 24/

Man.City - RB Leipzig 3-2 (0-2)

/Haaland 55, Foden 70, Alvarez 87 - Openda 13, 33/

Young Boys - Crvena Zvezda 2-0 (2-0)

/Nedeljkovic 8 og, Blum 29/

Barcelona - Porto 2-1 (1-1)

/Cancelo 32, Felix 57 - Pepe 30/

Wednesday

Galatasaray - Man. Utd 3-3 (1-2)

/Ziyech 29, 62, Atkurkoglu 71 - Garnacho 11, Bruno 18, Mc Tominay 55/

Sevilla - PSV 2-3 (1-0)

/Ramos 24, En-Nesiry 47 - Saibari 68, Gudelj 82 og, Pepi 90+2/

Bayern - Copenhagen 0-0

Arsenal - Lens 6-0 (5-0)

/Havertz 13, Jesus 21, Saka 23, Martineli 27, Odegaard 45+2, Jorginho 86 pen/

Braga - Union Berlin 1-1 (0-1)

/Djalo 51 - Gosens 42/

Real Madrid - Napoli 4-2 (2-1)

/Rodrygo 11, Bellingham 22, Paz 84, Joselu 90+4 - Simeone 10, Zambo-Anguissa 47/

Benfica - Inter 3-3 (3-0)

/Joao Mario 5, 13, 34 - Arnautovic 51, Frattesi 58, Sanchez 72 pen/

Sociedad - Salzburg 0-0