Clinical Arsenal must now develop ruthless streak after emphatic win

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Arsenal thumped Ludogorets 6-0 in their Champions League meeting at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night, extending their impressive recent form by making it seven consecutive wins in all competitions.

Admittedly, they were expected to win comfortably against inferior opposition, but they certainly dispatched of them in emphatic fashion in another thrilling display.

The Gunners received plenty of praise last month following their wins over Chelsea and Basel, but there was still a sense that they could have been a bit more ruthless and gone for more.

Having snatched a win at Burnley and then held on against Swansea City last weekend, Arsene Wenger’s men had arguably started to ride their luck a little, but they delivered a top performance on Wednesday night as they march on having now gone 11 games unbeaten.

What made the win over Ludogorets more impressive was that the likes of David Ospina, Kieran Gibbs and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain were all handed starts to show off the quality and depth that Wenger has at his disposal now, and they all delivered while in-form individuals such as Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and Theo Walcott all got on the scoresheet too.

Further, Gabriel and Granit Xhaka were unused substitutes, while Wenger had the luxury of bringing on Lucas Perez, Mohamed Elneny and Alex Iwobi off the bench as the game became safe.

Arsenal need to dismiss the reputation that they’ve been given in recent years for being too soft to mount a serious bid to win the major competitions, and they can do so by blitzing their opponents in similar fashion to the way in which they saw off Ludogorets and keeping their foot on the pedal.

The visitors did have their moments and Ospina had to be alert, but ultimately they couldn’t handle Arsenal’s firepower and the difference in quality showed.

With Shkodran Mustafi and Laurent Koscielny building a solid partnership at the back, combined with how Arsenal’s frontmen are firing at the minute, they must continue to make big statements like this to silence their critics and build belief in the squad that they can achieve something special this season.

Middlesbrough, Reading, Sunderland and Ludogorets all come before the north London derby against Tottenham on November 6, and the Gunners should be confident of extending their excellent run of results with more opportunities for Wenger to show off the strength of his squad in the coming weeks.

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