Pundit explains what Mikel Arteta did 'perfectly' during Athletic Club vs Arsenal

Arsenal picked up a big away win to kick off their Champions League group phase campaign on Tuesday night. The Gunners had to be patient against a very resolute Athletic Club side that has started the season very well in La Liga, but the three points returned to North London after an inspired substitute performances.

Gabriel Martinelli raced away to get the first after an assist from fellow substitute Leandro Trossard, and Martinelli returned the favour to set up Trossard to finish off the Bilbao clash.

It was not a perfect display by any means from Arsenal, but their ability to get the job done at a tough away ground and to find a way to pick up the three points speaks volumes about their potential to have a good run in the competition.

And according to pundit Ally McCoist, it was Arteta’s substitutes that made the difference, with the Spanish boss executing the replacements ‘perfectly’ upon his return to his home province, the Basque Country,

“That's all about Martinelli,” McCoist said after the second goal. “Rice gives him the ball really early and he uses raw, aggressive pace to get by Gorosabel and once he does, he picks out Trossard. You think Trossard is going to hit it earlier but he buys himself a bit of time and it comes off Vivian as it goes past the keeper. The substitutions have worked out perfectly for Arteta.”

Fellow BBC pundit Paul Robinson added: “This is not the time for potential for Arsenal. It's about taking that expectation and potential into delivering something and the experience will stand these players in great stead. It's coming to places like this, it might not be pretty but you're looking at the scoresheet and it says one nil, and at the moment they've got three points.”

What Arteta said

Arteta himself said after the hard-fought win: “Something that we always discuss is that the finishers have to impact the game, and Gabi and Leo came on to make the difference for the team. They was outstanding and the rest of the team as well. In many moments, they were at a very good level.

“When someone is able to win the game in those actions and be so clinical, it's exactly what we need because the threat can come from different ways and different players. I'm very pleased with that. It means that [Gabi and Leo] are connected and they feel that they are really, really important. We have discussed that a lot. We're going to need that. Piero [Hincapie] comes in and plays five minutes and so does Christian [Norgaard] and it's the best five minutes of their lives. That's the spirit that we need amongst the squad. If we have everybody at that level, we'll win a lot of games.”

The Spaniard added: “I’m very happy. It’s an incredible place to come and play football, and the atmosphere is one of the best I've seen. We knew it was going to be very difficult, so we had to earn the right to win the game. I think throughout the game we became more and more dominant and much more of a threat. So overall, very good. I'm going to see some family now, I'm looking forward to it. I hope the fans travelled well, they were amazing again.”

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