Europa League: Round of 16 – First Leg

OLYMPIAKOS 1 (El-Arabi 58)
ARSENAL 3 (Odegaard 34, Gabriel 79, Elneny 85)

IN the build-up to this Europa League last-16 clash you could almost imagine Sokratis Papastathopoulos telling his new teammates all about Arsenal’s weaknesses.

The centre-back, who spent two-and-a-half years in north London before joining Olympiakos on a free transfer in January, knows all of Arsenal’s dressing room secrets: who to watch out for at corners; who doesn’t have a left foot; who couldn’t hit a barn door with a banjo.

The truth is, however, that Sokratis didn’t need to say a word. And not just because the Greek champions already had the answers they needed having knocked the Gunners out of Europe last season.

Everybody already knows what they need to know about Arsenal. They produce pretty patterns in the final third, but all-too-often their final pass is either sideways or aimless, or both.

And if you wait long enough, they will always gift you chances far better than any you could create yourself.

At the Karaiskakis Stadium in Athens tonight (Thursday) first it was Martin Odegaard, who, midway through the first-half, gave the ball away to Bruma. The winger should have done better but thankfully for Arsenal shot straight at Bernd Leno from the edge of the box.

To his credit Odegaard made amends in the best possible way, firing home a thunderous opening goal on 34 minutes to give Mikel Arteta’s side a deserved lead.

The ball sat-up nicely for the midfielder, who unleashed a venomous strike from 25-yards which, in truth, Olympiakos goalkeeper Jose Sa probably should have saved.

The home side didn’t have to wait long for another Arsenal howler. Just before the break David Luiz was caught on the ball not far from his own byline, but again Olympiakos showed tremendous generosity as Giorgos Masouras fired high and wide with the goal at his mercy.

That generosity, though, ran out just before the hour mark. In another failed attempt to play out from the back, Leno played a poor pass to Dani Ceballos, who was caught in possession. Youssef El-Arabi pounced, taking a touch before fizzing the ball into the back of the net.

Minutes later Olympiakos could have been in front after some quick one-touch passing presented El-Arabi with another chance, but this time his effort was deflected just wide.

It took something special to restore Arsenal’s lead. On 79 minutes Willian whipped in a cross following a corner and Gabriel rose like a salmon to plant a superb looping header into the far corner. There was, of course, a quick VAR check, but nothing was going to stop Gabriel from finding the back of the net.

Five minutes later substitute Mohamed Elneny scored another stunner, finding space 30-yards from goal and letting fly with a swirling effort that Sa just couldn’t keep out.

In the end Arsenal were probably worth the 3-1 advantage that they will take to the Emirates next Thursday. But with the mistakes they continue to make only a brave fan would say the tie is over.

“We started the game really well, really dominant and creating a lot of chances,” said Arteta after the final whistle.

“We gave them a goal trying to play out from the back but then we reacted well to score two more goals.

“Overall a really positive result but we have to stop making the errors that are costing us goals because we cannot sustain that.”

Looking ahead to the second leg, the Arsenal boss added: “This is half time and anything can happen. We start on 0-0 again in the second leg and try to win the game.”

Olympiakos: Jose Sa, Lala, Sokratis, Reabciuk (Holebas, 45), Masouras (Androutsos, 86), M’Vila, Camara, Bouchalakis, Valbuena (Fortounis, 45), El-Arabi (Hassan Mahgoub, 77), Bruma (Randjelovic, 59)
Substitutes not used: Drager, Karagyris, Tzolakis, Soulis

Arsenal: Leno, Bellerin, Luiz, Gabriel, Tierney, Partey (Ceballos, 55), Xhaka, Saka (Pepe, 82), Odegaard (Smith Rowe, 82), Willian (Elneny, 82), Aubameyang (Lacazette, 88)
Substitutes not used: Ryan, Hein, Cedric, Chambers, Holding, Mari, Martinelli