Arsenal's perfect start to their Champions League campaign continued as Bukayo Saka starred off the bench in the Gunners' 3-0 win over Lille at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal 3-0 Lille: Saka stars off the bench for Premier League champions
Arsenal were frustrated by Lille in their Champions League clash, but Bukayo Saka inspired a brilliant seven-minute spell to ensure the win.
Jurrien Timber scored the first of Arsenal's three goals in seven second-half minutes, with Saka then teeing up Eberechi Eze two minutes after replacing Noni Madueke.
Saka got in on the act in the 71st minute after combining with fellow substitute Kai Havertz, as Arsenal followed up their win over Napoli with a more convincing display here.
Arsenal did, however, struggle to find their groove early on, though they carved out two chances in quick succession, with Bruno Guimaraes turning Timber's cross wide from inside the box, before another delivery from the Dutchman was headed straight at Berke Ozer by Mikel Merino.
The visitors then had a goal ruled out for offside against Ayase Ueda, who finished calmly past David Raya, but the Spaniard's clean sheet was preserved on the day he went level with David Seaman for most European Cup/Champions League games played for Arsenal among goalkeepers (38).
Eze then shot straight at Ozer before Guimaraes' swerving strike in first-half stoppage time almost caught out the Lille goalkeeper, who jumped quickly to his feet to swat the ball behind with Viktor Gyokeres waiting to pounce on the rebound.
Lille continued to frustrate Arsenal in the second half, and just as Mikel Arteta was preparing to bring on Saka, Havertz and Martin Odegaard, the Gunners hit the front in the 64th minute when Timber collected Madueke's pass before lofting the ball over Ozer.
Saka wasted little time in making his mark on proceedings as he pulled the ball back for Eze to brilliantly stroke home a bouncing effort that nestled into the bottom-right corner.
And the result was sealed four minutes later by Saka, who curled into the back of the net to round off a flowing Arsenal move that saw Havertz and Odegaard heavily involved.
Guimaraes almost capitalised on a mistake by Benjamin Andre, but his shot was saved by Ozer, and Arsenal's blistering seven-minute spell was enough to seal all three points.
Saka underlines Arsenal's quality after tepid first half
Despite leaving the likes of Saka, Havertz and Odegaard on the bench, Arteta was still able to field a front line that consisted of Merino, Gyokeres and Madueke, but the Arsenal boss was forced to turn to his first-team regulars to click his side into gear.
Arsenal have now failed to score a first-half goal in any of their last five games in the Premier League or Champions League. Their last goal before the break was against Chelsea on September 6, which led to Arteta making a triple change just after the hour.
Timber got the Gunners ahead before Saka came to the party. The England international has now scored 19 goals in major European competition for Arsenal, the outright second most of any player at the club after Thierry Henry (42).
In addition, only Henry (16) and Cesc Fabregas (14) have more Champions League assists for Arsenal than Saka (nine, level with Alexis Sanchez and Theo Walcott), while he is the fifth Arsenal player to both score and assist a goal as a substitute in a Champions League match.
And the Gunners were deserving of their win too. They finished with an expected goals (xG) total of 1.85 from their 16 shots compared to Lille's 0.38 from their four attempts, with Bayern Munich up next for Arsenal in the competition on October 21.
