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Arsenal ensured they progressed to the Champions League round of 16 in style following a 3-2 win over Kairat Almaty on Wednesday evening. Going into the fixture having already progressed to the knockout rounds, goals from Viktor Gyokeres, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Martinelli ensured the Gunners finished at the top of the tree thanks to eight wins from eight in the league phase of Europe's elite competition.

Mikel Arteta made 11 changes to his starting XI but that did not matter as the north Londoners made light work of their opponents from Kazakhstan at Emirates Stadium. The victory ensured Arsenal finished first in the 36-team league table, thus avoiding a two-legged knockout phase play-off tie in the process.

Arteta's side will return to European action in the middle of March and they will play one of Borussia Dortmund, Olympiacos, Atalanta or Bayer Leverkusen in the round of 16. That is because the teams who finish first [Arsenal] and second [Bayern Munich] in the standings will face a team that is ranked 15th, 16th, 17th or 18th.

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Due to the format of the Champions League, which was brought in at the start of the 2024/25 season, the knockout stages of the competition will operate via a bracket system like in major international tournaments. This means every team's route to the final in Budapest on May 30 is mapped out.

Arsenal now know that they will face one of four opponents but the exact knockout phase play-off fixtures will become clear when the draw is made at 11am on Friday. The round of 16 draw will then take place on Friday, February 27.

"I'm very proud of all the players and the run that we had in this first stage of the competition," Arteta said after the victory over Kairat. "Very difficult to win eight games in a row in the Champions League, and you can see what happened with all the teams, so we really need to acknowledge that. Today's game, with a lot of changes as well, started in a really good way.

"The attitude, I think, was spot-on from everybody, and we demanded that, disappointed with the two goals that we conceded, and as well with the level of efficiency, because we should have scored many more in the game, but I think it was a good way to end the competition in the first half."