Arteta delighted with Gunners and Eze after impressive win over Bayer Leverkusen secures a place in the Champions League quarter finals

Emirates Stadium. Pic by @JTaylorSport

Arsenal 2-0 Bayer Leverkusen

It seems Arsenal are quite adapt at competing on multiple fronts.

Top of the Premier League table and poised to secure the title for the first time since 2004. A Carabao Cup final to look forward to. In the FA Cup quarter finals.

And the same stage now in the Champions League, after a comfortable, professional display over Bayer Leverkusen. Sporting Lisbon, who defeated Bodo/Glimt lie in wait. Another challenge, but not one which should faze a team full of brio.

A 2-0 win for the Gunners was highlighted by a peachy opening goal by Ebere Eze in the first half, with an addition effort from Declan Rice.

Memories of this night will centre on Eze. The ex-Crystal Palace and QPR star has always possessed that nerveless, big game mentality. It was required here – and the midfielder delivered a missile into the roof of the Leverkusen net. It was not more than Arsenal deserved across a game which they dominated, as the visitors seemed strangely spooked by the intensity of the occasion.

Indeed, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta could hardly have asked for anything more from his men, whose controlled aggression epitomised the occasion. Declan Rice fired in a second goal after the break – not that the outcome was really in doubt, as Leverkusen were a shadow of the team expected to pitch up in the capital. Their passing was sloppy, and self-belief virtually non-existent, and other than a shot by Christian Kofana which was superbly saved by Gunners’ goalkeeper David Raya with three minutes to go, their few efforts on goal tame.

Attitude

Arsenal’s pace and attitude drove them to what is another significant success ahead of a tantalising campaign.

The tie was nicely poised with the teams drawing 1-1 at the Bay Arena last week. Eze soon shattered any notions of a genuine contest.

Regrettably for Kai Havertz, who kept his cool to slot in an equaliser from the penalty spot with a minute to in north Rhine Westphalia, he was only on the substitutes’ bench. Viktor Gyokeres was selected as the lone front man, supported on either flank by Leandro Trossard and Bukayo Saka.

Fortunately, Arteta could look at the bench and see the likes of Gabriel Jesus, Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli if additional fire power was to be required at some point against Kasper Hjulmand’s outfit.

One of the conundrums facing Arteta was whether to instruct his side to go aggressively from the outset of a tie in the balance, or whether to manage game time more effectively. With the Carabao Cup final on Sunday, the prospect of extra time here held little appeal.

Leverkusen - currently sixth in the Bundesliga and a gaping distance behind leaders Bayern Munich - brought a vociferous 3,000-strong travelling army of fans, hoping to see their team overcome the task in north London.

Arsenal were first to threaten in the 14^th minute. Trossard fired in a shot just inside the penalty area only to be denied by Leverkusen goalkeeper Janis Blaswich, who tipped the ball over the bar.

More home pressure ensued – Gabriel was next up only to head inches over via another set piece, as the German side were obliged to withstand questioning.

In the 28^th minute, Trossard could not disguise his shock when Blaswich threw out a leg to turn the ball away from the attacker’s close range drive. A superb, instinctive reaction.

As they would have expected pre-match, Arsenal needed plenty of patience.

It was all worth it – when the ‘wow’ moment was delivered by Eze.

Following careful approach play with Rice and Trossard, the playmaker picked up a forward pass on the half turn, before unleashing an unstoppable volley, which simply blew past Blaswich. The sheer quality of the strike ignited memories from some in attendance of a similar combined turn-and-volley by Thierry Henry against Manchester United during a golden age at Highbury.

There was, therefore, justified hope that Eze’s moment in lights would be sufficient to ensure Arsenal’s progress in the competition.

Leverkusen, on the other hand, were very disappointing throughout. Key men such as Exequiel Palacios and captain Robert Andrich could not impose themselves.

Gunners’ fans enjoyed their team’s second of the night in 63 minutes. Rice picked up a loose ball close to the penalty area before a moment of composure and a fine shot which sailed low into the right hand side of the net.

Any residual nervousness in the crowd instantly evaporated. Chants of going to Wembley were soon audible for those thinking of Sunday’s cup final against Manchester City. Arteta used the two goal cushion to load on substitutions, Christian Norgaard, Havertz, Martinelli and Christhian Mosquera for vital game time.

Memorable

Such a commanding win – if not quite reflected in the actual scoreline in the end - over a very decent Bundesliga opponent must give Arsenal chief Arteta even more confidence of a memorable run to May’s Champions League final in Budapest. That should be the target for a team which topped the tournament’s league phase.

Arteta was, naturally, delighted - and particularly in Eze, who is playing in the Champions League for the the first time.

"Overall we fully deserved to win", he said. "I think his (Eze's) purpose and level of activity shows you while he is here.

"The whole team, the manner and passion they showed was remarkable and to do this every three days is remarkable. The atmosphere was really good too, and it was a night for positivity to help us achieve what we want."

Once Wembley is negotiated on Sunday, with precious little to separate the north Londoners and City in terms of personnel, then Europe can be viewed through a fresh, and very positive, lens.

Gunners: Raya, White (Mosquera 68), Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie, Rice, Zubamendi (Norgaard 67), Saka, Eze (Havertz 69) Trossard (Martinelli 68), Gyokeres (Lewis-Skelly 89)