A statement performance from Arsenal yielded a statement win.
Beating a meek and mild Tottenham in the north London derby is one thing, downing a hot and hungry Bayern Munich three days later quite another.
Vincent Kompany’s German champions arrived in London wearing a cloak of invincibility. Arsenal tore it from them and hung it from the ramparts of Fortress Emirates.
Bayern, unbeaten all season, were given a lesson here. Arsenal were quicker, stronger and largely just better.
A tight game at half-time — Bayern teenager Lennart Karl cancelling out a Jurrien Timber header — it was nothing like it in the second period. Arsenal were rampant, Bayern in desperate and at times undignified retreat.
And when Gabriel Martinelli skipped past a stranded Manuel Neuer to score a third goal in the 77th minute, to add to Noni Madueke’s second eight minutes earlier, Bayern had reached the stage where they just wanted to get out of here with dignity.
Arsenal eased to a 3-1 victory over Bayern Munich in a statement win for the Gunners
Gabriel Martinelli tapped home into an open goal to seal the three points for Mikel Arteta’s men
Not so dissimilar to Tottenham after all, then.
Just about everything Arteta and Arsenal touch turns to gold at the moment. This is a team that have not lost since going down 1-0 at Liverpool in August. How long ago that seems.
Here, Arteta’s substitutions helped his team win the game, Madueke and Martinelli scoring and Riccardo Calafiori assisting for the second. Martin Odegaard also returned to action from the bench. A perfect night for Arsenal and what a performance of such dominance and vitality will do for these players is obvious.
With each big victory, so grows the feeling Arsenal can go where they have threatened to for so long. And when a game is won in such fashion, when a big name opponent is not just beaten but brushed aside, horizons widen. Arsenal are favourites to win the Premier League and this result puts them in the conversation for European football’s big prize, too.
Briefly, at the start, Bayern had been the better team, dominating possession like few teams have done here. But still a familiar thing happened: Arsenal scored.
Harry Kane, the scorer of 24 goals this season but without a sniff here, had said the day before the game he thought the Premier League was losing some of its allure as the return of set-piece goals and direct football made itself known across the country. At least the England captain knew what was coming, then.
Twenty-two minutes had passed when Bukayo Saka took a corner on the right. Neuer was barged a little before the ball came in but was unimpeded by the time he made a clumsy attempt to beat Timber to the ball. Neuer was late on the scene and Timber glanced the ball in from six yards.
‘Foul on the goalkeeper’ was the clear plea from Kompany to the fourth official but there was nothing doing. Bayern had been undone by one of the smallest players on the field and were now facing a real challenge.
Jurrien Timber headed past Manuel Neuer to score Arsenal’s opener midway through the first half
Promising Bayern star Lennart Karl, 17, brought Bayern level before the Gunners took control
Noni Madueke restored Arsenal’s advantage, converting a superb Riccardo Calafiori cross
The manner of the victory saw Arteta’s side lay down a marker to the rest of Europe
Briefly they threatened to meet it as the Germans broke to score fabulously. It was direct football but with a bit of razzmatazz.
Joshua Kimmich’s raking pass to the right wing found Serge Gnabry with the run on Myles Lewis-Skelly and his superb volley squared the ball to 17-year-old Karl, who rammed it past David Raya. It was one of the best goals scored here this season and the competition is high.
Arsenal were briefly stunned and Arteta was booked for screaming for a free-kick. But the second half brought only Arsenal pressure. Bayern couldn’t live with the home team’s intensity.
Declan Rice was fabulous, a constant menace in the centre of the field, as were many others.
Bayern, meanwhile, didn’t cope with Arsenal’s corners all night. The home team had four in the first 15 minutes of the second half and could have scored from all of them. Kompany grew ever more agitated and he too was booked.
Arsenal’s second goal came in the 69th minute and had its roots in a Bayern mistake as Dayot Upamecano passed the ball straight to Rice. But when he slipped in Calafiori, Arsenal’s ruthlessness was clear. A cross to the far post found Madueke hungrier than two opponents and he arrived first to score.
In among all this, Bayern created just one chance, Karl making a mug of Lewis-Skelly before shooting too close to Raya. Lewis-Skelly — playing in front of England coach Thomas Tuchel — will not be going to next summer’s World Cup if he plays like this. His performance was the only disappointment here.
It was a niggly game at times and Italian referee Marco Guida struggled to control it. But Madueke’s goal freed Arsenal to play with even more confidence and energy and the third goal was a horror show for Neuer.
The great goalkeeper will turn 40 in March and he had a bad night here, capped by a decision to dash out to beat the onrushing Martinelli to the ball with 13 minutes left. Neuer was never going to get there.
As Martinelli rolled the ball into an empty net, victory was clinched and a realisation dawned that this Arsenal team may have what it takes to do something remarkable this season.
