Arsenal ensured they have one foot in the Champions League quarter-finals after hammering PSV Eindhoven 7-1 away from home on Tuesday, thanks to goals from Jurrien Timber, Ethan Nwaneri, Mikel Merino, Leandro Trossard, Riccardo Calafiori and a brace from Martin Odegaard.

Mikel Arteta made two changes to the side that drew against Nottingham Forest last time out, with Myles Lewis-Skelly and Thomas Partey coming into the side for Riccardo Calafiori and Jorginho.

After a measured start from both teams, Arsenal thought they should have had an early penalty when Martin Odegaard found himself through on goal, but accidentally clipped the retreating Ismael Saibari in his attempt to shoot and fell to the ground.

There were strong appeals from the visitors but it was waved away by both referee Jesus Gil Manzano in real time and VAR after replays.

Heading into the 15th minute, Arteta’s men were beginning to impact themselves on the game and for the first time in 200 minutes, had the ball in the net when Declan Rice turned and found the bottom corner from distance.

But with their first attack of the game, PSV were inches away from scoring after Ivan Perisic broke down the left and saw his low cross palmed back into danger by David Raya, before Saibari ran onto the ball and whacked his shot onto the crossbar under pressure from Gabriel.

It was a stroke of luck for the visitors who ended up taking the lead shortly after when Jurrien Timber towered above Noa Lang at the back post to power home Declan Rice’s clipped cross. 0-1.

Just three minutes later, Arsenal doubled their lead through Ethan Nwaneri who bulleted home from close range after Myles Lewis-Skelly did well to stab a cross towards his fellow Hale End graduate. It was a clinical finish from the teenager who hardly broke stride before slamming past goalkeeper Walter Benitez. 0-2.

On the half hour mark, Lewis-Skelly was very fortunate not to have been sent off after bringing down Richard Ledezma by the corner flag (having already been booked earlier in the game). Each one of those 35,000 fans in the Philips Stadion were expecting a red card from the referee but he opted to give the teenager one more chance which was gratefully accepted.

After some more horrible defending from the hosts, Mikel Merino was on hand to curl into the far corner and make it three goals for the visitors within half an hour. A lengthy VAR check took place but the strike was eventually approved, putting the Gunners in dreamland. 0-3.

Having done the exact same with Calafiori against Nottingham Forest, Arteta reacted by swapping Lewis-Skelly for the Italian – this time the change came well before half time.

Ending a crazy half of football, PSV did get a goal back after they were awarded a penalty when Thomas Partey fouled Luuk de Jong in the penalty area after losing his man from a corner. Lang stepped up and found the corner – beating Raya who opted to stay in the middle. 1-3.

It was a frantic 45 minutes that was end to end, played in plenty of space and amazingly, all four shots on target in the game, all resulted in goals.

Despite the hosts’ renewed sense of hope before the break, the game was effectively finished three minutes after the restart when Arsenal scored two quick-fire goals to put themselves in a commanding position.

Martin Odegaard scored the Gunners’ fourth after Nwaneri breezed past Tyrell Malacia by the touchline before his low cross was palmed out by Benitez, falling straight to the captain who slotted into an empty net. 1-4.

Almost directly after the restart, Trossard made it five after combining beautifully with Calafiori down the left hand side before dinking the onrushing goalkeeper. 1-5.

The Dutch side were shellshocked by that point and the game was becoming more stretched with each passing minute, and Gabriel should have made it six but headed into the ground after finding himself unmarked from a corner.

Arsenal did eventually make it six when Odegaard was allowed to run through the entire PSV half, before cutting inside two defenders and shooting through Benitez who should have saved the effort but was deceived by some last second swerve. 1-6.

That goal caused a mass exodus from the home fans while the travelling Arsenal fans were enjoying every pass, every touch, asking if PSV were actually Tottenham in disguise.

With the game wrapped up, Arteta made changes to save some legs and put valuable minutes into others, as Ben White, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Kieran Tierney and Raheem Sterling were all introduced.

There was even time for Calafiori to add a seventh, running into the centre forward position from left back and finishing brilliantly after being found by Odegaard with the outside of his boot. 1-7.

That goal meant Arsenal have scored seven goals in a European game for the first time since October 2007 (against Slavia Praha), and for the first time in any competition since scoring seven against Newcastle in December 2012.