On a night when Arsenal ended the game with four left-backs on the pitch, this may not have been the biggest stage of Raheem Sterling’s illustrious career. But after a dismal loan spell from Chelsea during which the former England forward failed to live up to his reputation, he will be relieved to have finally made a contribution as Mikel Arteta’s side eased into the quarter-finals.

He provided two assists in the first half as goals from Oleksandr Zinchenko and Declan Rice ensured that Arsenal were never in danger of surrendering their record-breaking 7-1 advantage from the first leg. This time PSV Eindhoven proved more of a challenge and deserved to come away with a draw on the night thanks to equalisers from Ivan Perisic and then a sublime chip from Couhaib Driouech that denied Arteta’s side a place in the history books for the biggest aggregate victory in the knockout stages.

Yet after their failure to compete with Liverpool in the Premier League title race, Arsenal can now look forward to their second successive Champions League quarter-final with genuine optimism.

While Arteta had insisted that Arsenal still had work to do in this tie, even he had to admit beforehand that they had one eye on events at the Metropolitano. The prospect of a mouthwatering trip to the Spanish capital in the quarter-finals and their six-goal advantage from the first leg may have explained the number of empty seats at kick-off, although the PSV supporters at the Clock End made sure that it was still a lively atmosphere. Footage of several PSV fans taking in AFC Wimbledon’s defeat to Cheltenham in League Two on Tuesday night went viral on social media and they seemed determined not to allow the first-leg result to spoil their trip despite falling even further behind after only six minutes.

It was no surprise to see both managers mix things up, with Arteta opting to make seven changes from the side that drew with Manchester United at the weekend. Zinchenko is expected to be allowed to leave in the summer after falling down the pecking order behind Myles Lewis-Skelly and was entrusted with the Martin Ødegaard role behind the lone striker Mikel Merino as the captain watched on from the bench after excelling in the first leg thrashing last week. Zinchenko spent a season on loan at PSV from Manchester City in 2016 and refused to celebrate his first Champions League goal despite a brilliant curling finish that left Walter Benítez grasping at thin air after Sterling had turned over possession.

At that stage Peter Bosz must have feared the worst. But, to his side’s credit, they refused to buckle and could even have found themselves ahead if it hadn’t been for an excellent save from David Raya to deny Couhaib Driouech. Johan Bakayoko had missed a great opportunity to equalise before the veteran former Tottenham forward Perisic – deployed as a central striker – eventually did when he was left unmarked to tuck home a pass from Guus Til. Lewis-Skelly could have been given a penalty when he was taken out by Adamo Nagalo after hitting the post with a deflected shot but the referee thought otherwise.

Arsenal’s second was all about Sterling as he rolled back the years by leaving two markers for dead before standing up a perfect cross for Rice to head home.

You could almost see his confidence returning with every touch, although he could not finish off a golden chance to score just before half-time after being played clean through by Zinchenko.

Arsenal’s 10-2 defeat on aggregate to Bayern Munich at this stage of the competition in 2017 remains one of the heaviest in Champions League history and they would have matched that at the start of the second half had Ben White’s shot not been saved by Benítez. Raya was at full stretch to tip Isaac Babadi’s effort around the post as PSV continued to play for pride, with the substitute Joey Veerman firing over the crossbar.

Riccardo Calafiori’s introduction for Rice pushed Lewis-Skelly into midfield for the final half hour as Arteta also rested Merino before Sunday’s Premier League game against Chelsea.

Sterling is ineligible to face his parent club and seemed intent on making the most of his opportunity.

But it was Driouech who rounded off the scoring when his impudent chip left Raya stranded, with Sterling almost finding a winner in stoppage time before picking up a needless booking that will rule him out of the first leg of the quarter-final.