Arsenal claimed their second consecutive UEFA Champions League win by beating Lille 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday.
Mikel Arteta’s men endured a frustrating hour of play before Jurrien Timber kicked off the scoring in the 64th minute from Noni Madueke’s low cross.
Three minutes later, Eberechi Eze doubled the advantage with an assist from Bukayo Saka, who then made it 3-0 in the 71st minute.
The win sees Arsenal move up to third in the table, just behind Barcelona and Sporting CP, with more round two games set to be played on Wednesday night.
Arteta: ‘Technical quality wasn’t good enough’
Arteta was happy with the goals but admitted that they could have done better.
“We had moments in the first half where we arrived into a very dangerous position with a lot of advantage,” he said.
“Our technical quality wasn’t good enough to deliver moments of real threat and sustain real attacks.
“We made a change at half-time and our technical level increased.
“It was a joy to watch the goals that we scored, three different players and a number of different players participating.”
The Spaniard rotated his line-up for Lille, with the triple substitution later adding life to the Gunners’ game.
“I felt that it was the right moment to do it,” Arteta said of that decision.
“With the way the game was panning out, the way the opponent was behaving, we needed different kinds of players.
“But credit to the starters and the ones who came on.”
Ancelotti: ‘They didn’t deserve this score’
Lille head coach Davide Ancelotti was understandably distraught with the performance and end result.
“It’s really tough. With the players they always have on the bench, they can change the rhythm of the game,” Ancelotti stated.
“For us, it was difficult to keep up with the rhythm they put after 60 minutes.
“We have to keep the good things we did for 55 or 60 minutes.
“To come here and get a good result, you have to have many things aligned and we didn’t have that.
“It’s too hard on the players, the score. They didn’t deserve this score.”
For Lille, this marked yet another loss and leaves them 32nd on the 36-team league table.
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