After Dinamo's victory, Arteta was ecstatic to see Arsenal in a "really nice" position in the CL.

With a 3-0 victory over Dinamo Zagreb, Arsenal virtually guaranteed their place in the Champions League round of 16, thanks to goals from Kai Havertz and himself.

With one game left, the Gunners are now three points ahead of ninth-place Aston Villa in the lengthy Champions League standings, leaving them to avoid the February play-off round and return to the competition a round later in March.

Havertz's lay-off gave Rice his first Champions League goal in the second minute, setting up Arsenal for a three-point victory as the Gunners dominated a match in which they refused to allow a single shot on goal.

In the first half, Gabriel missed the greatest close-range opportunity for Arsenal to put more in the Dinamo net. Tim Sherwood declared, "It's an absolute sitter," on Soccer Special.

However, Havertz headed home a deft pass from Gabriel Martinelli to increase the lead just as the Emirates were growing anxious because of the one-goal margin.

In addition to the German scoring goals in consecutive home games, it was Arsenal's 500th goal under Mikel Arteta.

Martin Odegaard, the captain of Arsenal, scored his first goal from open play for the team or country since last April when replacement Leandro Trossard's pass found him at close range as the game entered stoppage time.

With the victory, Arsenal will have little to lose when they go to Girona for their final Champions League match next week.

Why is Arsenal's precise position important?

On paper, a team's path to the subsequent stages of the tournament will be better if they place higher in each of the qualifying groups inside the top eight places.

A club that places first or second will not advance to the knockout playoffs and will instead play in the round of 16 against one of the winners of the games between the 17th/18th and 15th/16th seeds.

A club that places seventh or eighth, however, will not advance to the knockout playoffs and will instead face the winner of the round of 16 matchups between the ninth and tenth and twenty-third and twenty-fourth seeds.

Who would Arsenal play right now?

Arsenal would play the winners of the play-off match between the 13th, 14th, 19th, and 20th places if they maintained their current third-place standing at the completion of the league phase next Wednesday night.

The teams occupying those spots at the moment are Club Brugge (20th), PSV Eindhoven (19th), Borussia Dortmund (14th), and Brest (13th).

Following the league round, there will be two draws to decide who will play whom in the knockout stages.

Which of the two possibilities each team receives in the elimination playoffs will be decided by the first draw, which takes place on Friday, January 31 at 11 a.m. For instance, a team that finishes in 13th place will be able to determine whether they will face the team that finishes in 19th or 20th place.

The second leg of the playoff round matches between the ninth and sixteenth seeded teams will be played at home on February 11/12 and February 18/19.

The opponents of the teams seeded first through eighth will not be known until Friday, February 21.

Their entire route to the final will be mapped out based on the draw, which will also decide who they play in the round of 16.

Arteta: Arsenal took a huge move.

Overall, I'm really happy. What we've done tonight is a huge step. Before we play the final game in Girona, it has put us in a pretty good position.

"Dominating the game and scoring three goals created a lot of opportunities. And another clean sheet at home, without giving up a shot. All in all, we're rather content.

We made some freshness adjustments to distribute minutes to people who deserved them, and it's really wonderful. The players we could use tonight had some setbacks yesterday. Though not yet ready for use, three of them were on the bench. Now that we've won, let's head to Wolves.

Cannavaro: We are not comparable to Fabio Cannavaro, manager of Arsenal and Dinamo Zagreb:

"3-0 is never a good result. However, I requested that they cooperate and play the game for ninety minutes. It was really difficult after giving in after two or three minutes. Although it wasn't simple, we made an effort to improve things in the second half.

Cannavaro responded to Dinamo's point total being equal to Manchester City's by saying: "Do you want to put me under pressure? We must make every effort [to be eligible]. We must attempt to win our home game against AC Milan because we want to please our fans.

"They ought to occasionally celebrate it. They are putting in a lot of effort, and I hope they succeed.

"It's never easy to play against a team like Arsenal. Because the leagues are different, even more. A Premier League club and a Premier League team are the subjects of our discussion.

"We make an effort to modify our approach, but occasionally it is insufficient. It has to do with the physical and technical. We are unable to compare.