Arsenal rout Atletico, City’s Haaland at it again

Arsenal thrash Atletico 4-0, Man City beat Villarreal 2-0, Newcastle defeat Benfica 3-0 in Champions League. English clubs climb log, eye top 8 spots.

Viktor Gyokeres celebrates as he completes his double against Atletico Madrid in a game Arsenal won 4-0. (Photo credit: 

Three Premier League clubs were in action in the Champions League on Tuesday, and all of them tasted different degrees of victories that helped them up the ladder in the quest to finish in the top eight.

The Gunners had the biggest and the most impactful win of the trio as they hammered Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid 4-0 at the Emirates, with Swedish striker Viktor Gyokeres scoring twice to end his goal drought, which dates back to early September.

It was dubbed the “haram ball derby”, with both sides known to be defensively solid; however, Arsenal dominated the opening exchange and should have scored early on when Ebere Eze hit the woodwork from a deft attempt.

The first half saw lots of chances for Arsenal and a disallowed Gabriel Martinelli goal; however, the Gunners made it rain in the second half, with Brazilian defender Gabriel Magalhães opening the scoring from a familiar source – a set piece.

Gabriel Martinelli latched on to a fine pass from Myles Lewis-Skelly after a mazy run by the young left back to score the second, and then Viktor Gyokeres bundled home twice to complete the rout, something Simeone described as devastating.

Earlier in the evening, the 2023 champions defeated two-time semifinalists Villarreal 2-0, with a familiar scoreline. The only different thing from what we already know is that someone else apart from Erling Haaland scored for Manchester City.

The Norwegian scored a simple tap-in early in the game; that was after Jeremy Doku and Savinho had passed on chances that could have blown the hosts away very early in the game. The Haaland goal took his tally to 22 goals in 12 games this season.

Bernardo Silva headed home from close range as the hosts refused to defend properly, and all efforts from both sides to score more goals didn’t yield much fruit as the Cityzens ran out 2-0 winners, a result that took them up to 5th on the log, at least until others play on Wednesday.

Finally, Newcastle won back-to-back games in the Champions League after clinically taking out Benfica at St James’s Park with Jose Mourinho watching on helplessly from the dugout. It was a night of grit and sheer professionalism from the Magpies.

Anthony Gordon opened the scoring in the first half before Harvey Barnes’ double wrapped up what became a 3-0 win. The win took Newcastle to 7th on the log. The goal is to finish among the top 8, which qualifies them straight into the round of 16.

On Wednesday, the trio of Tottenham, Liverpool and Chelsea will step out in the Champions League, with the World Champions playing against Ajax, Liverpool away to Frankfurt and Tottenham playing at home to Monaco.