Mikel Arteta described his Arsenal side as "superb" as they opened their Champions League campaign with a 1-0 victory over Napoli at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona — yet the Arsenal manager believes the scoreline flattered the hosts.

Martin Odegaard produced the decisive moment in the 75th minute, rounding off a brilliant passage of play with an arrowed, left-footed finish that struck the post on its way into the net. It was Arsenal's first match in the competition since their defeat in last year's final to Paris Saint-Germain, and the win extended their remarkable run in the group stage to 13 successive victories — the second-longest streak in Champions League history after Bayern Munich's 17 between December 2020 and November 2023.

Arteta: 'The team was superb'

Arsenal dominated for much of the contest. Their 26 shots against Napoli were the most on record (since 2003-04) in a single Champions League match, with their attempts generating an expected goals (xG) value of 4.05 compared with Napoli's measly total of 0.22 from five attempts. Unsurprisingly, Arteta was in ebullient mood afterwards.

"Everything," Arteta said when asked what pleased him most about the performance. "The way we competed, the attitude, the courage, the way we imposed ourselves, the quality that we showed in a lot of moments to break them down, which is difficult to do.

"Fully deserved three points. The performance probably doesn't reflect the result; the team was superb. On any other day the result would be different."

He added, speaking to TNT Sports: "We should have done it in a different way because of the amount of chances we created."

Odegaard's golden period continues

The match was another one of those Odegaard nights. Faced by a Napoli side camped inside their own penalty area, daring Arsenal to batter their way through, the Norwegian captain studied the scene, deciphered it, and with a little scoop of his left foot played the pass of the evening — a floated ball that landed on Ben White's head before Napoli's Hincapie cleared it with a wayward finish a second later.

Odegaard's winner, though, capped a performance that saw him create the most chances (six), register the most touches (120) and make the most passes that broke the defensive line (five). His strike continued a fine start to the campaign: he now has four goals in five appearances across all competitions for Arsenal this term, and it was his first Champions League goal since March 2025, when he scored twice against PSV. Three of his six goals overall in the competition have come from outside the box.

"Martin is contributing with goals that are impacting results, which is what we want from our attacking players, being decisive, and certainly he was again today," Arteta said. "First of all, he needs to be available. Last year, he missed so many games, so many injuries. He's got that edge, and he's got now different relationships, and that helps. And now he can start to occupy some very different heights in the team, especially in the attacking phase."

Odegaard himself was proud of the collective display but candid about the finishing. "We played brilliant football and should have scored many more goals, but we got there in the end," he said. "We did really well, created so many chances. We just missed the detail in the end, but we kept playing with the right mindset."

Anti-ruthless mode in front of goal

Arsenal created more than enough to help themselves to a hatful of goals in Naples, only to get stuck in "anti-ruthless" mode. Mikel Merino and Bukayo Saka were guilty of passing up glorious first-half chances — Merino's header from close range glanced straight at the goalkeeper, while Saka's swipe was shanked wide. Into the second half, Hincapie got in on the act for Napoli, scooping over the bar in front of goal, and substitute goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic denied Noni Madueke late on.

By the second-half hydration break just past the hour, Arsenal had already recorded 17 opportunities — a shot roughly every three or four minutes. Observers pointed to possible causes: the sale of three experienced forwards, including their top scorer in Europe last year, the switch from the in-form Kai Havertz to a striker feeling the tension in Viktor Gyokeres, and an air traffic delay that disturbed their fine-tuning. Whatever the reasons, the patient build-up play continued for as long as it took, and there were 29 passes in the build-up to the winner — Arsenal's second-most on record for a Champions League goal, behind the 33 for Lucas Perez's second at Basel in December 2016.

Rotation and a punishing schedule

Arteta made four changes to the side that has given Arsenal a winning start to the Premier League season, and it needed the substitutes to help unlock the game. Bruno Guimaraes, Christos Tzolis and Kai Havertz all brought technical impetus, with Tzolis claiming another assist for Odegaard — a relationship clearly developing. Declan Rice played the whole game, while Saka and Ben White, two players who shouldn't be overly pushed physically, were only withdrawn late on. Riccardo Calafiori earned a rest.

The trip to Napoli opens a sequence of four away matches in 11 days ahead of the international break. Arsenal travel to Sunderland for a Saturday night kick-off on September 12, then Ipswich in the Carabao Cup, and on to Brighton in the Premier League. Managing the fitness and flow of the squad will be fundamental, with the Sunderland selection expected to resemble the side that started against Chelsea last weekend.

As Amy Lawrence of The Athletic noted, to start the Champions League campaign with an away victory, a rest for Calafiori, a partial rest for Havertz and Tzolis, and another cameo for Guimaraes — it could be worse.