Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta hailed “the mindset” of his players on a night that Arsenal broke and equalled two separate records as they comfortably beat Slavia Prague in the Champions League.
A Mikel Merino brace and Bukayo Saka penalty were enough to give the Gunners a comprehensive 3-0 victory at the Fortuna Arena to maintain their perfect start to this season’s Champions League and ensure a 10th-straight win in all competitions.
The result also gave Arsenal their eighth-successive clean sheet, a run that equals a club record that has stood for 122 years.
“It shows the consistency, the way we have dominated the defensive part of the game,” Arteta said whan asked about the record.
“The most pleasing thing probably is not the record, it’s the mindset of the players.
“They are talking there about how we can still do better. If we do that we can keep improving and that record will have a bigger meaning.”
On a positive night all round for the Premier League leaders, Arteta was able to hand a Champions League debut to Max Dowman who, at 15 years and 308 days, became the youngest player to ever appear in Europe’s elite club competition.
And the Gunners boss was full of praise for the youngster, hailing the teenager’s character.
Arteta said: “What he’s done on the pitch, the first ball he takes, he takes people on, he starts to dribble, gets a foul.
“That’s personality, that’s courage and you cannot teach that. You have it or you don’t. It doesn’t matter what his passport says.”
Next up for Arsenal is a trip to Sunderland in the Premier League on Saturday.
