Martin Keown claims ‘Arsenal have laid down a marker of how good their team is’ and heaps praise on Bukayo Saka claiming he’s ‘the best in Europe right now’ following their 6-0 thumping against Lens

Martin Keown believes Arsenal’s 6-0 win against Lens has set ‘a milestone’ for other teams across Europe.

The Gunners advance to the knockout stages of the Champions League with a game to spare, having lost just one match in their European campaign so far.

They started the match well with four different players getting on the scoresheet within 27 minutes, with Kai Havertz opening their goalscoring account with his second goal in consecutive matches.

After the match, former Gunners defender Keown praised their younger stars and claimed the north London side demonstrated the quality of the English first division.

“Tonight we see the quality that our Premier League teams are capable of, they blew Lens away,” Keown told TNT Sports.

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‘Of course we lost the first game against them and they came back. They gave an indication of how good this Arsenal team is tonight.”

After Havertz grabbed the first, Gabriel Jesus, who was assisted by Saka, doubled their lead, with the England striker following up with their third just two minutes later.

And Keown praised their younger talents, including Saka, 22, who has posted three goals and four assists in the Champions League so far this season.

‘For many of these young players this is the first season. “When we look at Saka, we talk about the assists and the goals he scores – the best in Europe at the moment,” Keown added.

‘That was really a message from Arsenal. I know they are in their own backyard and Man City are there too – the best team in Europe at the moment. But who is the next best? Is it Liverpool? Is it Arsenal? And who is that in Europe.’

Bordering on confidence, Arsenal added two more goals before half-time, with Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard both finding the back of the net.

Things were slightly different for the home side in the second half, with Lens putting pressure on Mikel Arteta’s side, but they held on to keep a clean sheet, with Jorginho topping the night, scoring a penalty in the 86th minute.

Arsenal are now unbeaten in their last four games in all competitions and Arteta praised his team for progressing to the next round of the Champions League so productively.

“It’s great because the schedule we have at the moment is crazy,” the Spaniard told TNT Sports after the match. ‘We are already thinking about wolves in 72 hours.

“But it was a great night and thank you also to our people in the stadium, it was an incredible atmosphere and we are here.”

He added: “Today was the day to get it done. We have the chance to qualify and top the group and I think we have done that in a beautiful way.’

When asked if that was the best first-half performance he has seen his side deliver, he said: ‘That has to be the case if you score five goals in the Champions League against a very good team. The boys deserve all the credit: they were really good.

But Arsenal slowed in the second half and had to remain calm to keep Lens in check, who were pressing them to get a goal back.

When asked if the second half required discipline on his part, Arteta said: ‘Yes, because you can get really sloppy and there were parts in the second half where you started to see different behavior.

‘But I don’t think we have conceded a goal yet in the Champions League. We scored 12 at home, so it’s good, good stats.”