Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta hailed Viktor Gyokeres as “outstanding” after the striker scored twice as the Gunners thrashed Atletico Madrid 4-0 to maintain their perfect start to this season’s Champions League campaign.
Gyokeres, finding the net for the first time in Europe for his new club, gave the result the proverbial icing after Gabriel and Gabriel Martinelli had given the hosts a two-goal advantage at the Emirates to extend Arsenal’s record of successive wins against Spanish opposition to seven.
Arteta’s side have now picked up maximum points from their opening three matches in Europe’s elite competition this term and are one of only two teams – the other being Inter – to have not yet conceded a goal.
After squandering several good chances in a largely dominant first period, the Gunners found their clinical edge after the break, netting all four goals in just 14 second-half minutes to secure what Arteta called “a big performance, big result and a very well deserved three points”.
The Arsenal boss praised the contributions of Gyokeres, who ended a seven-game run without scoring.
“[I’m] delighted because he [Gyokeres] fully deserves it,” said Arteta. “The work rate and everything that he brings to the team is outstanding and he fully deserves the goals.
“That’s what we brought him here for and he’s demands on himself a really high level. But we value a lot of the things he does for the team and you can see the biggest smile on his face today and look at [the reaction of] his teammates.
“Hopefully it’s the start of some beautiful sequence now.”
Given Arsenal’s impressive start to the season, which has seen them move three points clear at the top of the Premier League, Arteta also stressed the importance of belief and insisted there were still areas of improvement.
He added: “Belief is something crucial in sport and now me have to maintain momentum.
“Understand that we’ve done some great things, there are things we should do better as well to improve. So let’s focus on what they are.”
Arsenal are next in action when they host Crystal Palace on Sunday.
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