But there’s a little more nuance to last night’s performance because, give Olympiacos their dues, they came and I was quite impressed with them by the time the final whistle had gone. Perhaps more so in the second half than the first, but they didn’t come to sit in and just play low block football against us; they pressed, they harried, they put our back line under a little more pressure on the ball and I thought in the second half in particular it was Olympiacos who made us feel a little more hurried than most of us in the ground thought we would be.

Arteta had rung the changes to the side and that meant in came White, Lewis-Skelly, Merino, Martinelli and a return for the captain Odegaard and we pretty much dominated the first half in its entirety. Martinelli really should have put us one up within two minutes, but he had a touch of the ’50p heads’ with his finish and the chance went begging. It was frustrating but given we got that chance so early I was pretty confident at that early point in the game.

And we pretty much bossed the first half I thought. There was one superb save that came from David Raya and you have to say with that one tip over the bar he earned his clean sheet bonus. It was good movement at the back post, Ben White as on heels a bit, but no harm, no foul.

What wasn’t foul was Martin Odegaard. He was by far the best player on that pitch in the first half. He dropped deep to collect from Raya, he popped up on the right hand side in his usual ‘right pod’ position, but he was all over the pitch pressing, harrying and generally dictating all of his plays. His ball in behind to set Gyokeres in for Martinelli’s goal was sumptuous. Not too hard, not too weak, it was perfect and Big Vik did his part to wrestle control and although he was unlucky to have his shot hit the post, the gamble of Martinelli was enough to tap in and put us one up. It was the kind of positioning and anticipation from Martinelli that you see when he’s on form and full of confidence. This Arsenal team needs goals spread around it and Martinelli already has three goals and one assist to his name this season. That’s the output we need and if he’s targeting 20 goals and assists this season, then he’s certainly on track to do it already.

I also thought it was interesting to see how the team changed too. You can see that the team has been given the instruction to go longer and looking for Gyokeres’ runs in behind because we went in behind a number of times. Raya was happy to go long and have him wrestle his centre half and as this Arsenal team starts to learn about the runs he makes, he’s going to create more chances. I thought he had a good game; he was strong, he was an outlet, he ran the channels and he is a machine when it comes to his sprinting both forwards and backwards. Towards the end of the game – I think we might have been two up – Olympiacos caught us in transition on our left hand side and Gyokeres sprinted about 40 yards to cover ground. Arteta will love that and with him getting lots of game time with Havertz out, it feels like we’re starting to see a shift in the teams understanding of his runs too. I just hope – and have a feeling – that he is going to start racking up some goals soon if they keep trying these kinds of balls in behind. We’ve missed that central running presence for years, but the team are starting to look for it, Odegaard – easily the man of the match – is looking for it. He is going to get chances.

There was one blot on the copy book that Odegaard had on a night that was definitely his, which was that miss towards the latter stages of the game. I’m not quite sure how he missed that from inside the six yard box, but he did and the ball spewed out for a corner. But there was ‘no harm, no foul’ as yet another sub delivered for Arteta in the latter stages of the game. Step forward end-product-merchant Bukayo Saka. I thought it was really interesting that he got his goal from a switch of position with Eze. Bez hardly had a kick in the game but by switching with Saka it caused a momentary lapse of concentration for the full backs and when the ball floated across to Saka on an unusual right hand side, he needed no invitation to have a shot. There’s probably a fair few question marks you could label at the ‘keeper there, as the ball went through his legs, but you buy a ticket….etc etc….

And so the final stages were relatively comfortable. Arsenal do the job on an evening in which City slipped up away from home and a match week in which Liverpool lost and the Scum drew. The name of the game for this format is a bit of a race to 15/16 points in my opinion, so by making it two from two Arsenal have done all they can do at this stage. Next up is Atletico Madrid at home in a few weeks and if we can get over the line on that one – which will by far be the trickiest of opponents so far – then we’ll be well on the way to that coveted automatic qualification in the top eight.

And on that note I shall bid you adieu and be back tomorrow as we start to look at West Ham at home on Saturday.

Olympiacos are the big fish in their Greek pond; they currently sit top of the Greek Super League but only on goal difference after five games. They’ve bagged 13 goals in that time and only conceded three, but I suspect they will be well aware that Arsenal away represent a stiffer task than ten-man Panserraikos at home. This game represents an opportunity to bag a 100% record in this competition and Arteta will be very mindful of the fact that we should be aiming to get to 15/16 points as quickly as possible to try to secure us a top eight spot. My gut feel is that this season it will be 16 points to get you there, which is five wins and a draw and with four home games still to play including tonight, as well as one already banked in Bilbao, we are on track. But we need to take this Greek team seriously.

It’s an experienced Greek outfit and I’ve just read from the official site (more here if you fancy it) that this is one of the oldest squads in the Champions League, which immediately makes me think that we can get at them if we are more purposeful and pacey in our movement of the ball. But that could also make them a wiley ol’ operator, so perhaps putting stock in age when you don’t really know what the team is actually like is a little bit of a fools errand on my part. A quick check on TransferMarkt for names I’m familiar with gives me little knowledge, with only Gelson Martins (that guy of Sporting fame who was linked with a host of clubs a few seasons back) and Daniel Podence – formerly of Wolves, currently on loan from Al-Shabab – being the two players that I recognise from their current squad. That doesn’t mean they can’t surprise us, but I always find matches like this difficult to assess the opponent, because the way Olympiacos are used to playing probably won’t be what we see this evening. For example in their last Champions League outing they played Cypriot minnows Pafos and got a 0-0. Pafos went down to 10-men on 25 minutes and the two teams played out a 0-0 draw with Olympiacos having 70% possession of the ball, 533 passes, 18 shots and three on target. That game state isn’t going to play out tonight.

So what should we expect?

This is where I have to look at The Arsenal and what we do, as well as how Arteta sets up his team and what rotation he should be engaging with, because I do think he’s shown a willingness to do that and I do think there is enough quality in our team to rotate. He could, for example, easily change our fullbacks and we see that the drop in quality is non-existent, with White and MLS coming in. I don’t think there would be many Arsenal fans who would have a problem with that. He could also give Martinelli a run out instead of Trossard, or decide that he wants to do a job-share between Odegaard and Eze. I suspect he’ll play Big Vik, but given how Arteta was asked about him in his press conference yesterday and talked so glowingly about the effort he puts in across both training and in matches, I suspect the ideal for the manager would be to play him for 60 minutes, have us a couple of goals up, then bring him off for a Merino so that he’s fresh for West Ham on Saturday.

The important thing is that we get the balance right. This may not be one of the giants of the Champions League, but they can still bloody a nose, so whilst I do think he’ll shuffle his pack a little, I don’t think we’ll see wholesale changes like Port Vale. So, if I’m going to stab a guess at a starting line up, I’m thinking:

1. Raya
2. White
3. Saliba
4. Gabriel
5. Lewis-Skelly
6. Zubimendi
7. Rice
8. Odegaard
9. Gyokeres
10. Saka
11. Martinelli

I think Saka has been carefully built up for minutes and I think he – like Big Vik – will be one of the first names off if we get what we need from the first part of this game. Martinelli hasn’t started for a few and I also think his form of last week and his goals in both Champions League and Man City will see Arteta give him the shout. Eze started against Newcastle, he started against Port Vale, plus the re-introduction of Odegaard to the match day XI will, I think, see him given the nod first and regardless of the score I wonder if the ‘job share’ I mentioned is also to manage Odegaard’s load by giving him circa 60 minutes and then letting Eze loose for the final third of the game.

We have to control this match. I think we will and I think Olympiacos will see this as a ‘bite yer hand off for a draw’ type of game. So I am expecting a bit of a low block. But the good thing about these Champions League teams is that they’re used to playing attacking football and winning their domestic games. That means that whilst they’re all good teams and professional sides, they aren’t a Sean Dyche-style Everton low block. They don’t do it every week. So my hope is that we can assert our dominance, exploit the spaces (where they exist) and hopefully pick up a solid victory from tonight.

That would put us in a good position if we do and it would also mean that a win against Atletico in a couple of weeks time – where we have some revenge we really ought to be extracting on them for the latter Wenger years – would have us in a commanding position to qualify in record time.

Got to do the business tonight first though.

Back tomorrow with some match review thoughts.

I went to bed last night and as I started to drift off, I was thinking about what a big and positive result the game on Sunday was, because it was the book end to the really tough start we had. But it was also a statement win under dramatic circumstances and that heightens the senses somewhat when it comes to collecting three points. Had we scored the penalty we got, then maybe got a second early in the second half, followed by Newcastle getting a consolation late on but we ultimately win the game 2-1, I probably won’t have been thinking too much about it other than it was a very valuable win. But the nature of the win and the late goal has given me personally such a boost, that I’m proper buzzing now about thew upcoming weeks. But I also don’t want that buzz to die down so quickly – I want to be able to hold on for it for a little longer – but I know I can’t because there’s more football on the immediate horizon.

Of course the reality is that football ebbs and flows and we are not going to see the same drama each week. We will probably see the same Newcastle set up i.e. low block football and a ‘try to break us down then’ mentality from all of our opponents, but we’re used to that now, but I think another element of the win was that we DID manage to overcome a low block. Plus, if I am buzzing, imagine what the players feel like after that win? They will have that belief that we are always in the game, even if we are behind or drawing late on, they will feel the confidence they can break down teams who just want to sit in and for Mikel Arteta I think he will believe that he certainly can do a little more kitchen sink throwing like he did with our selection of players who ended the game and the attacking threat we had.

And we still have players to come back to help aid our cause.

I’m not sure I buy the swing in betting odds though. I mean, I get it, because we’ve just come out of our ‘tough’ period and now have a series of games that everyone is describing as ‘winnable’. I think that’s a little bit of a disservice for the teams we’re about to play because West Ham have beaten us for the last two year’s in a row at home, plus Palace and Sunderland are flying, so this will by no means be an ‘easy’ set of games. But These are games that you’d think if you really want to challenge for the title you need to be picking up close to maximum points. But the swings in the betting seem a little extreme to me. I mean sure, Liverpool have ridden their luck at times so far this season, but they’ve also just kicked off the season winning five in a row and I’m pretty sure despite the tough run of games they have they’ll be picking up a big chunk of points in their next block of six. But what the bookies odds show you is that this season is going to be tight and hopefully not a procession for anyone (unless it’s us). It didn’t feel great season Liverpool get their noses in front early on with an easy run of early games that basically carried their momentum all the way through to the title and after match day five when they’d once again picked up maximum points, I was worried we were seeing a repeat of history. But the Palace game showed they are fallible and my hope is that the coming weeks show that too.

Aside: I said that I hope there isn’t a procession to the title. Of course if it’s us with the procession I’m absolutely fine with that!

But going back to the top of the blog and how a week is a short time in football, here we are today and we’re already going to get another Mikel Arteta press conference, as he prepares for the arrival of Olympiacos from Athens tomorrow evening. It’s a familiar foe, it’s an old foe and one that during those Champions League Group stages it felt like we played them every other year. This new format (which I still don’t like by the way – there’s something about going away from home and not winning and not being able to get revenge in the return leg that doesn’t sit right with me) means it’ll only be a home one for us and we won’t have to travel to Greece, which is helpful, but I’m sure Arteta will be full of precaution in his words so as to not give any ammunition to our opponents. But it will be interesting to see what he says about how the team are shaking up and how he is going to set his side out. In Bilbao he made a few rotational changes and I wonder if he feels the same for this one. Or, does this game inform us on who might start against West Ham at the weekend?

I’ll be interested to get his thoughts on tomorrow and see if there is any hint of rotation. I think we’ve already seen that he’s willing to mix and match and I suspect we might get a bit of that tomorrow night. But that is the beauty of the depth we have in our squad. He can play an Eze instead of an Odegaard/Martinelli/Trossard. Heck, maybe he even thinks that Nwaneri could start (I’d be surprised though)? I wouldn’t be avese to seeing MLS on the left from the start and with Trossard having started against Newcastle, what’s wrong with giving Martinelli the run out? Saka will probably get minutes, but maybe he could be earmarked for just the 60 given that we probably want him to do a full 90 against West Ham on Saturday and with Ben White back in the frame, maybe Jurrien Timber gets a rest?

We have so many options and so much strength that none of those players feel like a step down and I think we’re already starting to see an openness from Arteta to rotate more than he ever has before. That’s why I’m keen to hear any titbits of information from him and that’s why I’m looking forward to the press conference later on this evening.

Right, I’ll leave it there. Here’s another shout out for the pod Amanda and I did on Sunday evening straight after the game if you’re up for it. Otherwise I’m back tomorrow for a match preview. See you then.

That’s the kind of thinking that goes through my mind first thing on a weekday, so it’s probably good that I have a medium with which to channel my constant Arsenal thought lines.

Either way, we should get some team news at some stage, even if it’s via a page on the official site. The real hope is that The Ox has returned and that our ailing squad is starting to replenish itself. If Alex is back, I suspect he’ll have to contend with a place on the bench, because I’d imagine Ramsey will be the one to come in, having had minutes on Tuesday night. Despite his assist, Ramsey is clearly the better option and I wonder if it will relegate Joel to a bit part player again, taking his place alongside Debuchy until January at least.

One player who won’t be worried about getting minutes is Mathieu Flamini, who much like Coquelin last season, has been handed a lifeline because of multiple injuries. Personally, I am hopeful that whilst he won’t be as successful as Le Coq, he will get better with the more games he plays. I guess in that sense, it’s good that we’ve not got any teams at the top of the league at least for another three weeks, as it will give the Flamster the chance to build up some momentum having played midweek Champions League and weekend Premier League games. Apart from away to the Spuds in the COC, he’s looked decidedly average, possibly down to the lack of match sharpness. But as he’s given a run of games I expect him to improve and show that he’s a little more than just shouting and pointing in the heart of the midfield. There was a time – when he was a regular at Arsenal in his first spell – in which he had everything about him that Coquelin had. It’s true he doesn’t cover the same ground as much any more, but he should be old enough and wise enough to be better in positioning, which I think every player improves on a little bit more when they’ve been on the pitch for consecutive games.

What we just have to hope, is that it doesn’t take him half a dozen games to find his rhythm, because we can’t afford to be dropping points at this stage of the season when the games are viewed as a little bit more winnable. 

So whilst we have little choice but to put our faith in him, I am hoping that he will at least moderately surprise a few people, by hopefully not turning out to be as sh*te as everyone is expecting!

Aside from that, I’m not really sure whether there’s much more talking about at the moment, because the stuff on the official site is just a bit more bumf about getting out of the group stage, or players talking up each other like Lolo bigging up Alexis, or Per bigging up our chances in Greece in two weeks. You guys can have a read of those through the links if you like, but I have no particular thoughts either way, if I’m honest. All my attention is on the league and the nerves I get ahead of a game like Norwich away will be far greater than when we play against Olympiacos. Perhaps it’s because I feel we can achieve something in the league, whereas the path to Champions League glory is littered with better teams than ours, but I just feel more excitement about the league right now than I do the European competition. Maybe that will change and maybe I’m just compartmentalising the games, as cliched as it might sound, one at a time.

Anyway, enough blabbering from me, you’ve probably got plenty of things to do with your day so I’ll leave it there. Adios amigos!