Mikel Arteta has praised the quality of players in his squad, after they recorded their second UCL win of the campaign against Olympiacos on Wednesday night.
The Gunners defeated Athletic Bilbao 2-0 in their opening match a fortnight ago and recorded the same scoreline win over the Greek side last night.
The Arsenal manager made six changes to the starting lineup from last weekend’s 2-1 win over Newcastle United and rested several of his key starters.
Martin Odegaard, Ben White, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Mikel Merino all came into the starting lineup for the North London side.
They started the game brightly and got their lead in the 12th minute, with Gabriel Martinelli getting on the scoresheet after Victor Gyokeres’ effort had hit the crossbar.
David Raya then pulled off a spectacular save to deny Olympiacos an equalizer, with the first half ending 1-0 in favor of the home sodeu.
Both teams were guilty of wasted chances in the second half, until substitute Bukayo Saka latched on to a pass from Odegaard to wrap up the win for his side.
Squad depth very key for Arsenal
In previous seasons, Arsenal have had little options to call on during games on the bench. However, they recruited well in the summer and despite several injuries to key players, have been able to field a bery quality side with great options on the bench as well.
Mikel Arteta expressed satisfaction with his squad’s high spirit and praised the healthy competition for spots in the team.
“With all respect, last season we were looking [at the bench] and we had five academy players there, that probably never played professional football in the Champions League, so it makes a difference,” Arteta revealed.
“Today we decided to change six players because I want everybody to really be involved and feel part of it, and it was great.
“We had the feeling as well that physically we were dropping because we played a really intense match in Newcastle a few days ago.
“The ones that came in again, they lifted the level, and they helped us to win the game, and that’s great.”
