A disastrous night for Arsenal. Olympiakos had never won in England before. The camera picks out a couple of seething Arsenal fans. The rest of them look bemused and well they might. Their team has done it again. Arsenal were complacent. They were flat. There was a lack of urgency. They were a little unlucky at times but you cannot expect to be this careless at this level and get away with it. The first goal was a collective shambles, the second a nightmare for David Ospina, the decisive third from Alfred Finnbogason a dozy disgrace given that Arsenal had just equalised. Arsene Wenger said that Arsenal could not afford to drop points tonight. They have dropped points. They have dropped three points and after two games of their Champions League campaign, they are bottom of their group with zero points following chaotic defeats against Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiakos. Their next two games are against Bayern Munich, who won 5-0 tonight. They’re probably going to need to get something against the German giants. It’s never simple with this lot, is it? Thanks for reading and emailing. Night.
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Full-time: Arsenal 2-3 Olympiakos
Oh, Arsenal!
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90 min+4: Oxlade-Chamberlain’s free-kick is headed away. Pardo wastes a promising counterattack. Arsenal attack again. Ramsey scoops a ball into the area for Walcott. He tries to turn and shoot but he can’t shake off his marker! This is desperate stuff! The ball comes to Oxlade-Chamberlain. Another shot! It’s wide! And...
90 min+3: Salino fouls Campbell on the right.
90 min+1: Ozil slides a pass down the line towards Walcott, who finally has some space. He speeds into the area, cuts on to his right foot and wastefully bends a shot well wide. Did it take a deflection? The officials don’t think so. Another minute ticks by.
90 min: Oxlade-Chamberlain’s cross is deflected behind by Salino. Arsenal have a corner. Finnbogason heads it away. Ozil lobs it back into the area and Mertesacker heads tamely at Roberto. There will be four minutes of stoppage time.
89 min: Olympiakos are defending superbly. They’re heading everything away. Ramsey tosses another hopeful into the box. It’s Roberto’s.
88 min: Cazorla hangs the ball high to the far post. It’s overhit but Roberto has to push it over - it may well have been destined for the top corner.
87 min: The tireless Sanchez earns a free-kick on the left. An opportunity for Arsenal to test Olympiakos again.
86 min: Before the corner is taken, it’s time for Joel Campbell. Hector Bellerin goes off. The corner is taken. It’s headed away. Eventually the ball goes out of play and Vouras comes on for the excellent Fortounis.
85 min: Gibbs sends a superb ball into the area from the left. Sanchez throws himself at the ball and it looks destined for the back of the net, but he’s denied when the header flicks off the head of an Olympiakos defender. Corner.
84 min: Kasami lofts a clever pass over the top of the Arsenal defence. Fortounis almost fastens on to it but Ospina is out quickly to deny him.
83 min: The free-kick is headed away. Oxlade-Chamberlain’s shot is deflected wide. The corner is headed away. The frustration grows. Is it time for Joel Campbell?
82 min: Kasami catches Ramsey. Another free-kick to Arsenal. This one is probably too far out for a shot.
80 min: Ramsey balloons the ball into orbit from 30 yards. The game enters the final 10 minutes. Arsenal trail. Their Champions League hopes will be in severe doubt if they don’t find an equaliser.
77 min: Fortounis is booked before the free-kick can be taken. He’s timewasting. Olympiakos are nervous. And they should be? Mesut Ozil is standing over the ball. He curls a splendid effort over the wall but Roberto flings himself to his left and paws it out. Arsenal try to force the rebound in but Olympiakos scramble the ball away desperately. Hernani is then caught in the face by a stray arm from Ozil. He makes sure to make the most of it and Olympiakos are furious, demanding a red card for Ozil. The referee settles for yellow.
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76 min: Ramsey’s pass is handled by Cambiasso 25 yards from goal. He’s booked, which is harsh. There wasn’t much Cambiasso could do to get out of the way of the ball.
75 min: Finnbogason is booked for stamping on Cazorla’s foot. That was a bit naughty.
73 min: Olympiakos take off Seba and bring on Hernani.
71 min: Finnbogason pulls Sanchez’s shirt around 30 yards from goal. Sanchez and Cazorla are standing over the ball. Cazorla flicks the ball into the area but Sanchez can’t reach it. It’s Roberto’s.
69 min: Arsenal are rocking. A cross from the right comes all the way to Fortounis on the left. He cuts inside and shoots from an angle. It’s straight at Ospina. By the way, Olympiakos’s second goal has been given as an Ospina own goal.
GOAL! Arsenal 2-3 Olympiakos (Finnbogason, 67 min)
Olympiakos score another! Arsenal fall asleep straight from the kick-off and all of a sudden Seba plays the ball back from the left towards Fortounis, who’s in space inside the Arsenal area. He could shoot first time but instead he takes a touch and he’s closed down. The ball comes to Cambiasso,. He scoops it over the top to Pardo, who hooks the ball into the six-yard box, where Finnbogason daintily touches the ball beyond Ospina!
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GOAL! Arsenal 2-2 Olympiakos (Sanchez, 65 min)
Who else? Theo Walcott chips a delightful little ball into the middle from the right and Sanchez arrives to bullet a header into the bottom right corner! Now then, can Arsenal score another?
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65 min: Roberto is booked for taking too long over a goal-kick. For the first time in the second half, Olympiakos are hanging on. Ramsey’s introduction has transformed Arsenal. If they score one, they’ll score another.
64 min: Oxlade-Chamberlain blasts to the byline and crosses. His delivery takes a deflection and Roberto has to claw it behind for a corner. The ball is cleared as far as Cazorla. He piledrives one towards goal and Roberto beats the shot away!
62 min: Arsenal increase the pace again, Theo Walcott going on a mazy dribble inside from the right. Olympiakos don’t know which way to look but eventually Walcott is shepherded out of play.
61 min: Ramsey slips a wonderful pass through to Sanchez on the right. He’s in acres of space and drills a low ball into the six-yard box. Siovas almost sends it past his own goalkeeper, who prevents an own goal by deflecting it away - but only as far as Mertesacker. His low drive is saved brilliantly by Roberto but the ball bangs back to Cazorla, whose fierce volley is somehow headed off the line by Elabdellauoi! That is incredible defending! That shot was hit so hard that he needs treatment after getting in the way of it!
60 min: Santi Cazorla tries to burst past Cambiasso on the left. He prods it behind for a corner. Aaron Ramsey replaces Francis Coquelin. The corner is cleared.
58 min: Arsenal’s passing is too slow and deliberate against Olympiakos’s massed defence. Arsenal need some rage.
57 min: Per Mertesacker replaces Laurent Koscielny, who pulled a hamstring when he stretched to win a tackle a few minutes ago.
56 min: Laurent Koscielny is down. He appears to be feeling his thigh. His evening may well be over. Per Mertesacker is getting ready.
54 min: Kasami lets fly from 30 yards. It bounces just in front of Ospina, who does well to hold on to the ball. If he had dropped it, Finnbogosan would have been on hand to snaffle up the rebound.
53 min: Cazorla lifts a cross into the box. Olivier Giroud is suspended. It’s going to be difficult for Arsenal to score a header against this team.
51 min: Arsenal need a hero. Where’s Mathieu Flamini?
50 min: Arsenal concede possession cheaply near their own area. Finnbogosan introduces himself to the game by slashing well wide from 25 yards.
48 min: “My theory on why Ospina is starting: Wenger’s well known sentimentality,” says William Marzouk. “He knows Ospina did a good job last year, and so, having generally benched him in favor of Cech, is giving Ospina some Champions League starts to be a good sport. We saw the same thing with Abou Diaby, all those contract renewels, b/c of Wenger’s loyalty.”
But did he? He was at fault for a few goals. I’m thinking of Monaco’s third here and Bafetimbi Gomis’s winner for Swansea.
46 min: A big half for Arsenal begins. They cannot afford to lose this game. Olympiakos have brought on Alfred Finnbogason for Brown Ideye. “I’ve seen and enjoyed Game of Thrones,” says Ryan Dunne. “But why watch any of the flavour of the month supposed must see programmes when one could rerewatch Seinfeld again? (be honest, I bet half the MBMs you do have you wishing you were in enjoying old Italia 90 videos or something instead!)“
Arsene Wenger said before the game that Cech has a slight calf injury, but I fancy he still would have caught that corner.
A slow motion replay suggests that the ball was over the line for Olympiakos’s second goal. Pulitzer please! “I didn’t see Dirty Dancing until about two years ago when my wife cajouled me into watching it,” says Jared Brown. “The famous corner in that film was as rubbish as the Arsenal’s response to those in this current horror flick.”
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I can’t get my head round why Petr Cech isn’t playing. It’s a baffling decision. As for the rest of the Arsenal team, they’ve all been useless apart from Alexis Sanchez. “I genuinely felt sorry for Arsenal when I saw the scoreline,” says Ian Copestake. “It’s as if they each took it in turns to read your preamble.”
There are two crucial aspects to Olympiakos’s second goal. The first is that David Ospina should wear a clown costume for the second half. The second is that it makes no sense not to have goalline technology in the Champions League. As bad as that mistake was, I doubt the ball was over the line.
Half-time: Arsenal 1-2 Olympiakos
Oh, Arsenal!
45 min+1: There will be two minutes of stoppage time.
45 min: Gabriel steams through Salino. His studs were up and he’s booked. He’s slightly fortunate the referee didn’t take a sterner view of that one.
44 min: Alexis Sanchez is booked for questioning a decision. That’s petty on the part of the referee. Sanchez didn’t seem to do much.
43 min: David Ospina isn’t up to the required standard. Why isn’t Petr Cech playing?
GOAL! Arsenal 1-2 Olympiakos (Fourtounis, 40 min)
That decision to rest Petr Cech doesn’t look too clever now. Fourtounis’s inswinger curls wickedly towards goal and seems to take Ospina by surprise. He gets his bearings wrong and for an inexplicable reason he pats the ball down - I’ve no idea why - and Olympiakos claim that it’s over the line. Siovas tries to bundle it in to make sure but Arsenal hack it away. But wait! The referee has blown his whistle! The fifth official behind the goal is indicating the ball was over the line! I don’t think it is - the replays seem to suggest it’s not - but what a dreadful mistake by Ospina. This is farcical. The goal goes to Fourtounis but Ospina provided the inspiration, so let’s hope he gets the credit.
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39 min: Olympiakos win another corner. They scored with their last one. Gabriel conceded it. The Greeks are a big side.
38 min: Pardo is back on the field of play. “I have also never watched GoT (although I have caught snippets from my daughters’ TV as one does),” says Phil West. “I was wondering if this could be a riff - “TV programmes/Films that I have never seen”I’d like to start with “The Sound of Music” - a film that was a staple xmas day offering by the BBC for 10 years when I was young. As for TV I missed “Breaking Bad” completely. Any others?”
37 min: We are granted a breather as the physio comes on to rub his magic sponge all over Pardo, who is winded after a collision with Coquelin.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-1 Olympiakos (Walcott, 35 min)
That didn’t take long. Alexis Sanchez drives inside from the left and prises Olympiakos open with a lovely pass through to Walcott. The angle isn’t too inviting but Walcott opens up his body and threads the ball underneath Roberto with his right foot. The goalkeeper might not be too happy with himself for not keeping that out, but what a response from Arsenal!
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GOAL!!!! Arsenal 0-1 Olympiakos (Pardo, 33 min)
There had been a whiff of this happening for a while. From the right, Fortounis pulls the corner back to the edge of the area, where Pardo has gone unnoticed. He has space to take aim and he clips a shot towards goal with his right foot. It might not be heading in but the ball flicks off Oxlade-Chamberlain’s heel and spins into the bottom-right corner, Ospina totally helpless. Arsenal were sleepwalking and they’ve been punished.
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32 min: Olympiakos lob a high ball into the box from the left. Gabriel and Koscielny both go for it and collectively they make a mess of it, bumping into each other and allowing the ball to drop to Ideye. He brings it down but can’t quite get a shot away. Instead he lays it back to Fortounis, whose shot from the edge of the area is deflected over for a corner. And..
30 min: Absolutely nothing is happening.
29 min: Olympiakos beat Atletico Madrid and Juventus at home in their group last season.
27 min: Oxlade-Chamberlain tries to cross from the right. Salino sticks out a boot and diverts it through to Roberto. Arsenal are flat.
26 min: In the other game in this group, it’s Bayern Munich 0-3 Dinamo Zagreb Bayern Munich 3-0 Dinamo Zagreb.
25 min: Arsenal need to play with more intensity and urgency. They are drifting and they are starting to look nervous and edgy. They drifted against Monaco too and we know what happened there.
23 min: Pardo wriggles away from Coquelin far too easily on the right and lays the ball off to Fortunis. He drags a shot a few yards wide from 20 yards out.
19 min: Olympiakos are challenging Arsenal to break them down. Arsenal are searching for inspiration. Alexis Sanchez looks the likeliest to provide it but Olympiakos are defending sturdily enough at the moment.
17 min: Ozil shapes a pass through to Cazorla. He could shoot. Instead he decides to dribble and runs into heavy traffic. Beep! Beep! There’s no way through the bodies.
14 min: “Don’t you think Gibbs looks a lot like the leader of the unsullied in Game of Thrones?” says Richard Armitage. “Could auger well for the Gunners, except now I think about it he might have been killed at some point near the end of the last season. Hard to keep up really with all the butchery going on......”
I’ve never watched Games of Thrones.
12 min: An Olympiakos free-kick on the left. It’s hoicked high to the far post by Kasami and Arsenal don’t deal with it convincingly. It’s allowed to drift into the six-yard box, Ospina is rooted to his line and Ideye can’t quite reach high enough. Ospina gratefully claims the ball on the line. That could have bounced past him. But it didn’t and Arsenal counter again. Sanchez sashays through the middle with embarrassing ease and this time it’s Walcott who’s the beneficiary of his vision. Walcott diddles his way past the last defender with a neat swerve to the right, only to clunk his shot straight at Roberto.
10 min: The corner from the left is headed away and Arsenal break at frightening speed, a four on one move developing in a flash. Sanchez, a blur of red, white and nervous energy, zooms forward and slides a pass to the right for the equally quick Oxlade-Chamberlain. He’s through on goal but Salino does brilliantly to put him off and Oxlade-Chamberlain clips his shot high into the side-netting.
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9 min: Kasami winds up another shot from 30 yards. It’s another dismal effort, although at least he connects with the ball this time, progress of sorts. His scuff almost runs through to Ideye and Koscielny has to boot it behind for a corner.
8 min: It’s fair to say this is a low-key start from both sides. Hey, West Brom v Everton started slowly as well and look how that ended up!
6 min: Olympiakos spring forward for the first time. Elabdellaoui scampers round Gibbs on the overlap on the right and reaches the byline. His cross is headed away as far as Kasami on the edge of the area. He winds up a volley, perhaps gearing up for another Palace special, but connects with fresh air, much to the amusement of the crowd. Arsenal attack. Here comes Sanchez on the left. He slips a pass through to Walcott on the left of the area. He turns and dinks a clever ball into the middle but it’s booted away by Botia.
4 min: Arsenal are dominating the ball, Olympiakos seemingly content to sit back and let them have it.
2 min: There are a few empty seats around the Emirates Stadium, which is rather quiet. Clearly everyone is still reeling from the Champions League being shown on BT Sport instead of Sky. This brave new world is still taking some adjusting to.
And we are off! It’s Arsenal who get the ball rolling and they’re kicking from left to right in the first half. Olympiakos are all in dark blue, so it looks a bit like they’re Manchester United in their away kit, which in a way is an excellent way for Arsenal to prepare for Sunday, if you don’t question my reasoning.
The ceremonial swapping of club pendants is delayed by Santi Cazorla, who leaves everyone waiting. “Sorry guys,” he chirps as he sprints over with a smile. Everyone chuckles. Good old Santi!
Here come the teams, walking out to polite applause, the bear pit of the Emirates Stadium. It’s time for some singing about les grandes equipes.
Here are some pre-match emails. From you, the reader.
“Arsenal’s toaster has not exploded,” says Dean Potter. “It has, however, had a setback in its recovery and is now expected to undergo a procedure and be out until Christmas.”
“The Five Live team of commentators, football correspondents, pundits and other voices-in-the-air are united on one thing: Arsenal Lack A Leader,” says Charles Antaki. “Chief sponsor of this view is Mark Lawrenson, whose argument boils down to a list of all the Arsenal captains he can recite (and includes Martin Keown, for some reason). It’s just the ad hominem fallacy all over again, to be sure; but then belief in A Leader could be nothing else.”
“That’s a lot of defenders on the subs bench,” says Stephen Ford. “Is Arsene’s game plan for an Alexis hatrick and then park the bus Jose-style?”
A lot of defenders, sure. A lot of defenders and Joel Campbell.
Apologies for the radio silence. I’ve been eating. Which I’m allowed to do, actually. I shouldn’t apologise for eating, should I? I am a human too, a human being with feelings and emotions and ... needs. I’ve said too much. Back to the football. Arsenal have left out Petr Cech in Europe once again, Olympiakos’s dismal record in England enough to convince Arsene Wenger to give David Ospina another outing. Let’s hope that decision doesn’t backfire. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is preferred to Aaron Ramsey and it’s also a big night for Theo Walcott, up front with Olivier Giroud suspended. I fancy that he could destroy Olympiakos’s defence if he’s in the mood. But don’t underestimate the Greek champions. They have Esteban Cambiasso. And Brown Ideye. And Kasami.
The teams!
Arsenal: Ospina; Bellerin, Gabriel, Koscielny, Gibbs; Cazorla, Coquelin; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ozil, Sanchez; Walcott. Subs: Cech, Mertesacker, Chambers, Debuchy, Monreal, Ramsey, Campbell.
Olympiakos: Roberto; Elabdellaoui, Botia, Siovas, Leandro Salino; Pardo, Kasami, Cambiasso, Seba, Fortounis; Ideye. Subs: Kapino, Finnbogason, Dominguez, Pulido, Masuaku, Vouros, Hernani.
Referee: Bas Nijhuis (Holland)
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Preamble
Hello. It’s never simple with Arsenal. It should be simple, but it isn’t. If you asked them for a piece of toast, rest assured that you would be presented with some of the finest condiments in the world but no toast, because the toaster has exploded and David Ospina’s chef hat is on fire. It’s never simple, so much so that it’s not even clear whether or not they’re a team ... In Crisis. They were in crisis after losing agains West Ham on the opening day, Petr Cech, the final piece in the jigsaw, managing to break said jigsaw, and they weren’t very good against Liverpool. Then they won a couple of games and everyone calmed down. But then came a false start to theirChampions League campaign, Dinamo Zagreb debacle, the supposed whipping boys of the group whipping Arsenal, and then they ran into Diego Costa, who, one hopes, never finds inspiration from watching Narcos on Netflix.
So a week ago, Arsenal were very much approaching Crisis, a state they surely would have entered if they had lost to Tottenham Hotspur in the Capital One Cup. Knives were being sharpened, damning columns prepared, angry YouTube videos readied. But an unlikely hero emerged. Mathieu Flamini scored twice, the second a stunning volley from 20 yards to breathe fresh life into Arsenal’s season, and on Saturday they handed Leicester City their first defeat of the season, Theo Walcott showing why he has a future as a central striker and Alexis Sanchez plundering a hat-trick. They’re back on track! Two wins in a row! Arsenal! They’re by far the greatest team the world has ever seen.
But what comes next? The defeat in Zagreb means that there cannot be a false move against Olympiakos tonight. Arsenal should win. They usually win this kind of game handsomely. But what if they don’t? They have two games against Bayern Munich after this. They’ll really be in trouble. But what if they win? Three wins in a row! Arsenal! They’ll be by far the greatest team the world has ever seen and it will be proof that they’re finally getting it together, evidence that they’re ready to beat Manchester United on Sunday. But what if they win tonight and then lose their nerve against United? It will be back to square one, wherever that is. It’s so confusing. It’s never simple. What’s it to be, Arsenal?
Kick-off: 7.45pm BST.
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