Arsenal in seventh heaven as young Gunners shine

EINDHOVEN, the Netherlands — Arsenal's talented teenage duo Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri combined on Tuesday to help the Gunners to an imperious 7-1 Champions League last 16 first-leg advantage over a shambolic PSV Eindhoven.

The Premier League side was on a different level to the struggling Dutch champion, who was condemned to its worst-ever defeat in European soccer.

"The standard was way too high for us tonight," admitted PSV's French defender Olivier Boscagli. "They were way better in every situation ... every time they got into our box, they scored."

"No chance. Outplayed. Bad," said PSV coach Peter Bosz, summing up his team's performance.

Arsenal dominated from the outset.

Declan Rice's powerful shot into the PSV net on 11 minutes was chalked off for a narrow offside, but it was a taste of what was to come.

"We were fluid. We had enthusiasm, the drive and the hunger," Rice said. "But we've been playing like this all season. We need to keep pushing as a team with that mentality."

Against the run of play, PSV should have taken the lead after a quarter of an hour but Ismael Saibari somehow contrived to hit the bar from close range with goalkeeper David Raya beaten.

Arsenal made the host pay for its profligacy two minutes later. Rice was afforded far too much space in the PSV box, allowing him to chip a cross to the far post, gratefully headed home by Arsenal's own flying Dutchman, Jurrien Timber.

The visitor doubled its lead shortly afterwards following more generous Dutch defending.

Lewis-Skelly, the 18-year-old English defender, found himself in acres of space in a dangerous area, squaring to fellow teenager Nwaneri, who smashed the cross into the top corner.

PSV's shambolic defending turned to embarrassment as Arsenal made it three after just over half an hour played.

The defense squandered four chances to make an easy clearance, the ball eventually falling to makeshift striker Mikel Merino, who rolled the ball past Walter Benitez.

The shell-shocked fans in the Philips Stadion received a glimmer of hope however just before halftime, PSV winning a penalty after Thomas Partey needlessly wrapped his arms around striker Luuk de Jong's head.

Netherlands international winger Noa Lang made no mistake from the spot, smashing the ball into the top corner, giving Raya no chance.

It was a lifeline for the Dutch champion, who went into halftime 3-1 down after a breathless first 45 minutes.

Lewis-Skelly meanwhile had been substituted, arguably fortunate to escape a second yellow card after a clumsy challenge on Richard Ledezma.

Record defeat

Any hope for the home fans was quickly snuffed out, as Arsenal scored twice in the first three minutes of the second half.

Nwaneri broke impressively down the right, squaring a cross that Benitez could only palm into the path of Martin Odegaard.

"He's 17 years old and playing on the biggest stage in football," Rice said about Nwaneri. "It's crazy. We see him every day in training, and he and Myles deserve to be playing. You should see them train, the way they have no fear, the way they want to come and perform. It was brilliant tonight."

By now, it was all too easy for Arsenal. With 49 minutes gone, Riccardo Calafiori eased past the left side of the PSV defense, finding Belgium forward Leandro Trossard, who lifted his shot effortlessly home.

Odegaard grabbed a second as PSV capitulated, the Norwegian running unchallenged at the defense before firing a shot that Benitez parried lamely into his own net.

Calafiori compounded the misery with a seventh on 85 minutes, beating the previous record for the number of goals PSV has conceded in Europe — they lost 6-0 to Saint-Etienne in the 1980 UEFA Cup.

It was a sad evening for the 1988 European Cup champion, whose fans streamed out of the stadium well before the final whistle.

"You can lose. Just not like that," said club captain and talisman De Jong.

"Everyone is annoyed about this. The fans, the players, believe me. We're not happy about this," he added.

AFP