Viktor Gyokeres, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Martinelli chipped in with strikes to help Arsenal beat the Kazakh champs 3-2 to make it eight wins on the bounce in the Champions League.

Read on for everything Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta had to say as the Gunners now await their knockout stage opponents. 

on ending the league phase campaign with eight wins:

Yes, I’m very proud of the players and the run that we had in this first stage of the competition. It’s very difficult to win eight games in a row in the Champions League, and you can see what happened with all the [other] teams. We really need to acknowledge that. Today's game, with a lot of changes as well, started in a really good way. The attitude was spot on from everybody. We demanded that. [We were] disappointed with the two goals that we conceded, and 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 part. 

on Havertz returning to the pitch:

Yes, that was a very positive thing as well. Individually, getting Richy [Calafiori] back as well after the injury. Kai, not only bringing him in, I think the quality that he showed, the way he connected with the team, the goal that he scored, the assist that he made in the first half – a really positive performance.

on where Havertz can play in the frontline:

He can play in [all positions] I think – right, left, attacking midfielder or nine. It doesn’t change much for him, depending on the position, the relationship we have around him, and the players that are available as well. We’ll make those decisions. The good thing is that he’s fit, he’s available and he’s going to give us so much. 

on if Havertz is ready for Premier League minutes:

He's fine, that’s what we planned, 45 minutes [before being substituted]. We wanted to start him as well so he could do all the processes before that in the best possible way, and from now on we have to make a decision whether he starts or not in these competitions.

on whether Havertz will be knocking on the door for Leeds:

For sure, he wanted to continue playing today, so I know what is coming tomorrow! 

on having a home advantage in the UCL knockout stages:

In principle, on paper, it’s something positive. The main thing was to avoid another two games with the schedule that we have already and then make the most out of it. We have to wait and see who our next opponent is going to be, and in the meantime, we’re going to be so busy with the other competitions.

on what we’ve missed without Havertz:

Every player has unique qualities. Kai is a player who gives us so much versatility and threat from different positions because he's a unique player in the areas that he can occupy and the way he gets associated with other players. He's a player who understands so well. In the league, what we want to do, he copes really well with pressure and with different demands and he's a player that is going to be really important in this second part of the season.

on becoming the first team to win eight games from eight in the UCL:

At the end, that shows that we can consistently perform at this level and if it's the first time, how difficult it is to do it. The players need to acknowledge that and feel even more conviction about what we're able to do. But that's it. Now the competition stops. We have a period of reflection as to what we've done. We're going to start to prepare when we know our next opponent, what's next, and that's it. Then go game by game because you know that this competition, an action and a moment can change the whole story, and we are very conscious of that

on Kairat Almaty’s goalkeeper Anarbekov's performance:

I don't know. He had a good performance today and a few very strong performances in the games that I've seen and apart from that, I don't think it's for me to judge what can happen in the future for him.

on Havertz bouncing back from two big injuries:

Well, it's going to give him a lot of confidence, joy, energy and to the team as well because the team knows how important Kai is for us and how he can help the team to be much better and take the team to a different level. So the fact that he was able today to do that in such a long time, it's very impressive. So bring him on board and make sure that now we use him the right way because it's going to be very important.