Gabriel helped David Raya preserve Arsenal’s clean sheet in their 6-0 win over Lens (Picture: TNT Sport)
Mikel Arteta was thrilled with the reaction of Gabriel Magalhaes after the Arsenal defender celebrated his last-minute tackle which helped preserve a clean sheet in last night’s win over Lens.
A ruthtless and relentless attacking first half performance put the Ligue 1 side to the sword, with all five members of the Gunners forward line getting on the scoresheet.
Jorginho’s late penalty, his first goal in Arsenal colours, put the icing on the cake before Gabriel helped preserve a third successive home clean sheet in the Champions League with a heroic late block.
The Brazil international celebrated with the sort of gusto you would expect from a player who had just scored a decisive goal and Arteta was delighted to see one of his central defenders so committed to the cause long after the result had been determined.
‘When the team has that body language believing every game, every action the way we do, good things are going to come and like the crowd they wanted more,’ said Arteta when asked for his response to Gabriel’s reaction.
‘They celebrated, they play every single ball with us and when there’s that connection, it’s really powerful, the team wants to win, they don’t want to concede anything, that’s the mentality that we need to become better.’
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video
After a hard-fought win over Brentford last weekend, meanwhile, Arteta was delighted his side were able to showcase the more aesthetically pleasing aspects of their football, with his front five all finding themselves on the scoresheet.
‘I didn’t even dream like this, but we had the chance to qualify today and become top of the group and we’ve done it in a really convincing way against a really good side,’ said the Arsenal manager.
More: Trending
‘I think the team right from the beginning showed a lot of aggression and determination to go for the game, everything happened in the right way especially in the first 30 minutes and that was really helpful to win the game.
‘It’s a great that we are able to win in this way, but I think consistently we have shown at home not to concede any goals, and score a lot of goals, that’s a really positive factor.
‘Those players need to have those experiences, and believe that we can do it against big opponents, now let’s wait, we have to park it and in February we will know who we are facing and let’s see how we are in that moment.’
MORE : Lens star rates Arsenal’s chances of winning Champions League after 6-0 thrashing
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.