Arsenal top of the class after Havertz sparks six-goal rout

Mikel Arteta could hardly have dreamed of a smoother return to Champions League football.

- Nick Ames

Arsenal are through to the last 16 and, although the spring will surely offer stiffer tests than a weak Group B that they have won with a game to spare, a run to the latter stages will be distinctly possible should they remain this clinical. Lens were dispatched brutally with five first-half goals, Kai Havertz starting the rout before Gabriel Jesus, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Ødegaard all joined in. Almost everything they hit went in, allowing the well-deserved luxury of a somnolent second half enlivened by Jorginho's late VARawarded penalty.

PSV's turnaround win in Andalusia meant there remained work to do. If Sevilla had held on to their lead Arteta's side would have been guaranteed top spot without kicking a ball, but now another setback would turn up the jeopardy.

Arteta had taken no chances with his starting XI, Havertz earning a return after his weekend heroics and the inclusion of David Raya fully expected regardless of Aaron Ramsdale's wobbly stand-in display.

Twelve minutes had passed uneventfully when Havertz, so useful with his head at Brentford, hung in the air to meet Takehiro Tomiyasu's cross and sought a repeat. It looked a tough chance to execute but his effort was not far wide. Lens had given up a chance under minimal pressure and it signposted everything that followed.