LONDON, Nov 4 (Reuters) – Tottenham Hotspur central defender Micky van de Ven scored a sensational solo goal in his side’s 4-0 home rout of FC Copenhagen which lifted the London club into the top eight in the Champions League on Tuesday.

The flying Dutchman took possession of the ball on the edge of his own penalty area in the 64th minute and sped the length of the pitch through a flimsy Copenhagen defence to smash home a shot and make it 3-0.

Brennan Johnson had put a dominant Spurs side ahead in the 19th minute with a cool, angled finish into an empty goal after visiting keeper Dominik Kotarski charged out of his goal and Wilson Odobert doubled the advantage in the 51st after Randal Kolo Muani did well after more poor keeping by Kotarski.

Johnson was shown a red card four minutes after Odobert’s goal for a late tackle on Marcos Lopez but rather than slow down, the hosts put their foot on the accelerator.

After Van de Ven’s goal-of-the season contender, substitute Joao Palhinha was played in by Cristian Romero following another sweeping forward move to make it 4-0.

Substitute Richarlison struck the crossbar with a header and a 90th-minute penalty but that could not detract from Tottenham’s biggest win since manager Thomas Frank took charge.

Tottenham have lost three Premier League games at home this season but are now unbeaten in 22 European games on home turf and that record never looked in doubt against Copenhagen who would have suffered an uglier defeat had Kolo Muani not wasted two first-half sitters after being set up by Xavi Simons.

Arsenal records

North London rivals Arsenal equalled a 122-year-old club record of eight successive games in all competitions without conceding a goal as they swept past Slavia Prague 3-0 to go top of the Champions League with four wins out of four.

Mikel Merino, replacing injured striker Viktor Gyokeres as a makeshift forward, scored twice in the second half after England winger Saka had put the Premier League leaders ahead in the 32nd minute.

Arsenal, who brought on 15-year-old Max Dowman in the second half to become the youngest-ever player in the Champions League, have now also won their last 10 games in a row and looked unstoppable at the Fortuna Arena.

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