The Prague Post - Arsenal crush Club Brugge to keep 100% Champions League record

Former Chelsea winger Madueke unleashed a thunderbolt from distance to give the table-topping Gunners a deserved first-half lead and headed in from point-blank range at the start of the second half.

Brazil forward Martinelli then put the result beyond doubt, cutting in from the left and hitting a curling right-footed effort home from just outside the box -- competing with Madueke for goal of the night.

The crushing win leaves injury-hit Arsenal top of the league phase of the Champions League with 18 points, with a top-eight finish all but assured with two games remaining.

Finishing in the top eight means automatic qualification for the last 16, avoiding the need for a risky play-off.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta praised his team's performance, particularly in light of their lengthy list of missing players.

"To play in the Champions League and to win away from home and especially when we have that many players out, it makes the task bigger but I talked to the boys," he told TNT Sports.

"It was about showing how much we wanted it, the resilience and how we prepared and I think there were some great examples, for example Christian Norgaard, which is a player that probably prepares the best out of all of them."

- Rare defeat -

Premier League leaders Arsenal, who have never been crowned European champions, travelled to Belgium after suffering their first defeat since August at the weekend -- a 2-1 loss at high-flying Aston Villa.

Ivan Leko, back at Brugge for a second spell as manager, was overseeing his first match after the Belgian club sacked Nicky Hayen on Monday.

Arteta, juggling his resources, made five changes to the side that lost to Villa, with Norgaard starting at centre back and Viktor Gyokeres back in the starting line-up for the first time since November 1.

The visitors started brightly and were a whisker away from taking the lead when Gunners defender Piero Hincapie turned a wayward Myles Lewis-Skelly shot against the post midway through the first half.

But minutes later Arsenal were ahead after Madueke's breathtaking strike. The winger picked the ball up just inside the Brugge half, on the right of the Gunners' attack.

He cut in, finding an extra gear, and unleashed an unstoppable left-footed shot past Dani van den Heuvel, which went in off the underside of the crossbar.

Brugge's attacks were sporadic but Carlos Forbs, who scored twice in his team's 3-3 draw with Barcelona last month, was an occasional menace on the right.

As the clock ticked towards half-time, Brugge suddenly looked more dangerous, with Aleksandar Stankovic twice going close and Christos Tzolis also testing David Raya in Arsenal's goal.

But any sense of momentum that Brugge might have built up vanished in the opening moments of the second period when Madueke, playing on the right in place of Bukayo Saka, who was a late substitute, was on hand to nod home Martin Zubimendi's cross.

Martinelli, largely a bit-part player for Arsenal this season, then joined the party in the 56th minute.

Brugge threatened occasionally but Arsenal substitute Gabriel Jesus, back in action after 11 months out, struck the crossbar as the visitors threatened more goals.

Z.Marek--TPP