The most telling glimpse of this defeat, clinical to the point of sterility, came a few seconds into added time. Arsenal hadn’t missed a single shot all night but now, near the corner of the six-yard box, Lens striker Elye Wahi had a decent chance of nibbling away at their lead. Until Gabriel Magalhäes, who was not going to have a very comfortable evening until then, closed the opener with a big challenge and celebrated in front of the home fans as if he had scored his seventh goal.
Arsenal had to settle for six but Mikel Arteta loved the moment. He spoke eloquently and chest-thumpingly about the focus that had seen them top the table in a modest Group B with a game to spare. Satisfied with an over-the-top performance in the first half and further warmed by Jorginho’s late penalty, the fans would have forgiven a consolation for the visitors, but the idea was anathema to Gabriel. Exactly this level of rigor will be needed when tougher continental tests arrive in the spring and Arteta is satisfied with the tone his players have set.
“When the team has the body language, experiences every move and every play like we do, good things will come,” he said. “The team wants to win, they don’t want to compromise on anything and that’s the mentality we need to get better.”
Relating to: Arsenal v Lens: Champions League – live
The relative dreariness of Europa League Thursdays and, more recently, free midweeks, seems a distant memory. While Lens defended steadily, scoring four goals in the first 27 minutes, Arsenal certainly made it easy to forget the dark times here. Had PSV Eindhoven not pulled off a remarkable comeback win at Sevilla earlier in the evening, Arteta’s side would have been home and dry without kicking the ball. If they didn’t have to play for long periods of time to ensure their progress, they tore Lens apart with each gear shift.
Lens were not threatened in the early moments, briefly giving rise to the idea that they could repeat their victory in the reverse fixture from eight weeks ago, but this was the best the night had. Kai Havertz, who returned to the starting 11 after his heroics on the bench in Brentford, gave a warning with a free header in the 12th minute. It was a warning shot that Lens, backed by a corner of red-and-yellow fans, ignored.
Gabriel Jesus almost immediately beat Kevin Danso, a centre-back several inches taller, as they resisted the return of the ball and nodded in for Havertz to slot past Brice Samba from close. He let Jesus take this chance. It was completely of a piece with everything that came after.
The next time Arsenal attacked with any threat, Danso and Facundo Medina got in each other’s way after Bukayo Saka’s attempt to find Jesus appeared to be crowded out. Eventually Jesus took control, cleverly creating the angle and drilling a slick, low surface to Samba’s right. The points and the position among the seeded teams in the round of 16 were already quite good.
Despite this, Arsenal kept coming. Enjoying the spaces Lens afforded him, Havertz took control after giving David Raya a long pass and fed a furious Gabriel Martinelli. Although Martinelli’s shot from the left from his favorite spot was very effective, Samba should have dealt with it effectively. Instead his parry bounced off an unaware Saka who could have scored perhaps the strangest goal of his career.
Arteta praised Saka’s newfound ability to score “ugly goals” and was also pleased to see Martinelli put in a better performance four minutes later, this time turning Przemyslaw Frankowski inside out before unleashing an unstoppable strike on Samba. Lens flickered briefly after that, with Raya Wahi and Medina saving a post, while Martin Ødegaard’s emphatic volley from an excellent Takehiro Tomiyasu cross gave the scoreline a surreal sheen at the interval.
Arteta said, “I never imagined such a comfortable progress.” “We did it convincingly against a really good team. Everything went the right way in the first 30 minutes.”
Anyone could have happily said that a day before the second 45; it was virtually featureless apart from a series of substitutions and admirable efforts by the away team to maintain the atmosphere.
Lens didn’t have much going for them: if they beat Sevilla at home and Arteta wins at PSV, they could join Arsenal in the knockouts. “We will prepare in the best possible way” for that match, he said, but the lack of stress would also be welcome. Substitute Jorginho got the pulses rising again towards the end with a spot-kick awarded by VAR, and Arsenal were able to enjoy their cleanest sigh of relief.