Mikel Arteta wants his side to finish top of the group 🔝🔴 | Arsenal v Lens | Champions League

Mikel, is it all about getting the job finished? Yes, when you have the opportunity to do so at home, we have to finish it off. But we have a tough opponent in front and we know because we already experienced that in the first game, so it will be a difficult game. How important is it for you to top the group? Obviously, winning matches and being always the best in the group, it puts you in a much better position for the rest. It keeps momentum and we're in a really good moment. And tomorrow, that's what we want. Play well and have the right to win the game. It's an interesting situation where the other game, which is quite important, is played before. Is that a distraction? How much attention will you pay on that game and that result? I think inevitably, we're going to know the results. But we know what we have to do and we have prepared the game to win it and to finish top of the group. And that's the intention of the team. How do you reflect back on the game on Matchday 2 in France, especially the performance? Well, we started really well. We scored the goal. We were in control of the game and they asked certain questions that we didn't have the right answers on the day. We started to lose very simple goals in very difficult areas against them. And they are a really good team in transition in those quick attacks. When we were in control again, we conceded the goal and we tried everything, but it wasn't enough. We lacked something on the day and especially in defending in certain moments, we lacked discipline. For their first, they proved themselves clinical and very adept at pouncing on mistakes. Yes, and that's a big quality of theirs. They provoke those errors, those mistakes in certain areas, the way they want to press you. And when they do that, they are really good at capitalising on those moments. And we know that. And they have two very different faces when they are defending. They are really, really aggressive in that first phase and they are really compact in that second, third block. And we're going to have to attack really well as well. They have a team full of good players, but their striker, Eliway, is he someone to watch out for? He certainly scored the winner in style. He did, but as you said, they have some quality players. Obviously, it's not a concept what they did last year in League One, but what they continue to do. And when you look at all the games that they played in this group, in most of them, they've been better than the opponent. And that's a big compliment to them. How much more positive would it be if the perfect outcome, matchday six, you get to have the option of selecting whoever you want because it's all taken care of? That will happen if we earn it. And that's tomorrow the opportunity that we have in front of us.