Arsenal FC

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Last-gasp Gunners win again

29 Sep 2009 - 21:48:22

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Two late goals by Robin van Persie and Andrey Arshavin finally saw off a spirited Olympiacos side as Arsenal maintained their 100 per cent start to their Champions League Group H campaign with a 2-0 victory against their Greek opponents.

But once again it was far from plain-sailing for Arsene Wenger's side who conceded two early goals against Standard Liege a fortnight ago before eventually hitting back to win 3-2.

Wenger made two changes from the side that beat Fulham 1-0 on Saturday with Emmanuel Eboue replacing Bacary Sagna and Tomas Rosicky coming in for Nicklas Bendtner.

Olympiacos, Greek League winners for the last five seasons and managed by Brazilian legend Zico, beat AZ Alkmaar 1-0 in their opening group game.

Zico's side had to beat FC Sheriff and Slovan Bratislava to reach this stage of the competition and defended resolutely throughout.

Grey-haired goalkeeper Antonios Nikopolidis was superb, particularly in first half and, in the 13th minute, he got down low to palm Arshavin's drive away from danger.

Four minutes later Cesc Fabregas' thunderbolt rattled the crossbar and came back into play for Rosicky whose goalbound drive was blocked by Nikopolidis.

In the 20th minute, the waspish Arshavin somehow managed to find some space for himself to drill in a shot that the keeper again saved.

Seven minutes later Fabregas broke clear again but once more Nikopolidis comes to Olympiacos' rescue with another smart stop.

Just past the half-hour mark van Persie's corner was missed by everybody when even the merest of touches would have forced the ball into the net.

However, the visitors weathered the storm and even ended the first half attacking as the Gunners appeared to run out of ideas as half-time approached.

Olympiacos played even better after the interval and they almost grabbed a shock goal when Vito Mannone did well to keep out Olof Mellberg's header from Leonardo's corner.

The Gunners were finding it hard to create anything but, just when it seemed as though the match would end in stalemate, they finally broke the deadlock with 12 minutes left.

Fabregas created the opening for Eduardo and the Croatia international crossed the ball in for van Persie to turn it home.

The match was finally put to bed in the 86th minute when Fabregas crossed for the suspiciously offside looking Arshavin to back-heel the ball into the net.