On a chilly Wednesday evening at The Emirates, Arsenal easily defeated RC Lens 6-0 thanks to goals from six different scorers, securing their spot in the round of 16 and topping Group B. For the very first time in seven years, the home team was participating in the premier club competition in European football, and they needed just one point to guarantee a spot in the league’s knockout stages. Rather, they took Lens out of the game to win all three.
With four victories from their five games, Arsenal is now sitting on top of the Group B rankings with 12 points, and as a result, have qualified for the Round of 16 this season. Lens on the other hand, are still in third place with just 5 points, and no longer eligible to make it to the knockouts.
After scoring the game-winning goal in opposition to Brentford the previous weekend, Havertz was brought into the starting lineup. He launched up the lead on the 13th minute when Lens was unable to get rid of a looping ball into the box. Havertz demonstrated a striker’s inclination to finish ahead of the keeper Brice Samba from close range after Jesus nodded the ball across the goal.
Eight minutes later, Jesus expanded the lead. He did so by grabbing a sideways pass from Bukayo Saka on the outer edge of the box with his left foot, skillfully converting back to his right to turn the defenders in the wrong direction, and finishing in the corner with his shot.
In the 23rd minute, Saka earned his third goal by combining in a ball that was weakly blocked by Gabriel Martinelli with his body. Four minutes after that, Martinelli turned the knife again with a rolled shot that took Lens goalkeeper Samba lunging at thin air.
A few of Lens’s repulsed out-of-town fans started setting off flares, momentarily stopping the game. After Takehiro Tomiyasu’s superb cross, Odegaard timed a volley from 12 yards out for the fifth goal in stoppage time in the first half.
In the rematch, Lens, the runners-up in Ligue 1 the previous season, surprised Arsenal 2-1 thanks to goals from striker Elye Wahison and one assist from him. However, the Frenchman appeared hopeless as the temperature dropped in north London.
Declan Rice, an Arsenal midfielder, sat firmly as the home team defended their commanding lead in the second half, keeping the visitors from making any advances into the area. The second half was quiet until Abdukodir Khusanov of Lens stranded out an arm in his own space in the 85th minute, earning Arsenal a penalty after a VAR review. Jorginho, an injury substitute for Arsenal, scored the penalty to end the night horribly for the visitors.
