CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 

ARSENAL 2 (Martinelli 12, Saka 92)

OLYMPIAKOS 0 

IS this the strongest squad in the history of the English football?

The answer will come in May but right now the Arsenal teamsheet has a measure of depth that has surely never been seen before.

And with that fans are experiencing the rarest of emotions in football: confidence.

The Gunners left it late to seal the win tonight with goals from two relative old-timers, Bukayo Saka and Gabi Martinelli.

But despite the visitors’ having some decent chances – one forcing and incredible reflex save from David Raya in the first half – there was a reassuring sense of belief and optimism channeling through the stadium.

“I want everybody to really be involved and feel part of,” said a glowing manager Mikel Arteta after the match when asked about his six changes to the starting line up.

On the strength of the squad, he said: “With all respect, we had five academy players last season there that probably never played professional football in the Champions League, so yeah, it makes a difference.

“The ones that came in, again, they lifted the level and they helped us to win the game, and that’s great.”

Arteta had given starts to Ben White, Miles Lewis-Skelly and Mikel Merino – benching this season’s serial starters Declan Rice, Eberichi Eze, Ricardo Calafiori, Saka and Jurien Timber.

At the moment, it feels like whatever the line up the team maintains its balance and composure.

Viktor Gyokeres had strong good strength to power past a defender before unleashing a shot that dribbled onto the base of the post.

Martinelli – largely thought of as the Gunners weak link over the  summer – was first to react and poked in the rebound.

Playing on the right side, Martinelli had in the first minute blundered a sitter of a header – but went on to have one of his most best games in a long time.

Martin Odegaard seems to have emerged from whatever the dark cloud he was playing under, and is back to his scintillating best.

His first touch and turns on the ball looked as sharp as they have ever been.

Gyokeres is still finding his feet after his big money signing but you get the feeling that it won’t be long before he starts getting rewards for his efforts.

He made some powerful runs, that ended with disappointing shots – one blocked due to hesitancy, another lashed over.

But he holds the ball up very well and looks capable of outmuscling defenders.

Arteta said: “What I sense is that he’s doing better and better things every game.

“Today he was denied a few times on one of the blocks, and then he hit the post, but I think overall his performance was exceptional.

“Again, his work was really good, and yeah, we want him to be scoring goals, but if he doesn’t do that, at least to do everything as he’s doing for the team, because he’s helping the team a lot.”

White looked a little out of sorts in the first half and was berated by Arteta over some of his positioning.

The visitors did look lively – in particular the former Wolves attacker Daniel Podence.

He hit a crisp volley that Raya tipped over the bar at full stretch in an instinctive cat-like reaction.

It will be forgotten about, but it was as a good as a goal and kept the confidence sky high.

Chiquinho had the ball in the back of the net in the second half that was ruled out for a narrow offside.

There was one outstanding passage of play that began with Rice shielding the ball with great strength and skill before swiveling and hitting a raking pass to Odegaard.

The Gunners captain spun his man with a twinkle toes couple of touches before floating towards the edge of the box.

He laid it perfectly to Leandro Trossard who chopped back putting the keeper down – but his shot was blocked by a scrambling defender.

There was a slight tension that the score was only 1-0, and Olympiakos were playing with their backs to the wall.

Odegaard was a bit casual when he found himself in front of goal with what seemed like a basic tap-in.

He slightly scuffed the shot and the keeper was able to claw it away to safety.

Saka finished the game with a strike that should have really been saved by the goalkeeper in injury time.

It was no less than the Gunners deserved though and the 2-0 win maintains a perfect start to the Champions League campaign.

Next up West Ham on Saturday – the first of a series of what look like very winnable fixtures.

Arsenal: Raya, Lewis-Skelly, Gabriel (Mosquera 75), Saliba, White (Timber 58), Merino (Rice 58) Zubimendi, Ødegaard, Trossard,  Gyökeres, Martinelli (Eze 73)

Subs not used: Kepa, Calafiori, Dowman, Norgaard, Nwaneri, Setford

 Olympiakos: Tzolakis, Ortega, Pirola, Retsos (Biancone 86), Costinha, García. (Scipioni 75), Hezze (Mouzakitis 86), Podence, Chiquinho (Strefezza 86), Martins (Taremi 62), El Kaabi
Subs not used: Biancone, Kalogeropoulos, Kouraklis, Onyemaechi, Paschalakis, Pnevmonidis, Nascimento

Attendance 56820