Key events
19 min: A spell of Olympiakos possession, and they show off their threat. Daniel Podence, once of Wolves, forces a fine save from Raya, who had stayed alert. Gelson Martins and Chiquinho look like decent technicians.
17 min: Russell Yong gets in touch: “I think focusing on Nwaneri detracts from the fact that any of Arsenal’s outfield bench could conceivably have a case for wondering why they’re not playing. Conversely, any of the starters would feel the same had they not started. It’s a mark of the depth they have, two-deep in every position, with yet more (Havertz, Madueke, Hincapie, Jesus) injured. There’s a lot of football to be played yet; they will surely all get their chances.
“That said, I think there’s a difference between being unduly impatient about Nwaneri and good-faith pondering of his circumstances. He’s been around for three seasons and played a lot more last season, without ever quite giving the impression that he’s trusted to really cement his place in the team, the way Saka, Foden or Messi (to throw out three names of prodigious players who established themselves within three seasons) did. Even allowing for Arsenal’s depth now, it’s natural to hope he doesn’t turn out like, say, Smith Rowe. Peaked then regressed steadily until he drifted out of the team entirely.”
Gyokeres meanwhile has a shot. He looks like he fancies filling his boots.
16 min: Olympiakos have their own Basque in the veteran Dani García, once of both Athletic and La Real. He’s played a couple of nice passes but Merino and Zubimendi are giving him the runaround.
14 min: Arsenal rewarded for their dominance and speed of attack. Gyokeres smashed through Costinha, and Martinelli is full of confidence at the moment.
Goal! Arsenal 1-0 Olympiakos (Martinelli, 13)
An opposition attack breaks down and Arsenal counter, Gyokeres goes away and sets up Martinelli for a goal he gets two bites of.
9 min: Jose Luis Mendilibar is the Olympiakos coach, and twice a winner of the Europa League, with this club and Sevilla.
NB: This was actually the last time the clubs met, during Covid, and with no crowd. Do such matches count?
8 min: Another Martinelli run, and he’s brought down by Ortega. Olympiakos are asking their opponents on. Tzolakis, the keeper, claims that free-kick with ease from Odegaard.
6 min: It’s all Arsenal. They are all over their opponents. Martinelli is out on the right with Trossard on the left. A winger using his right foot at right wing; it will never catch on.
4 min: Free-kick after a Costinha foul – not the Costinha of Porto legend – though he is a former Porto player. Saliba wins the header but it’s cleared well enough.
2 min: It should have been 1-0. Raya to Odegaard to Lewis-Skelly, and a fine cross. Martinelli’s header is actually off his shoulder. It was all started by Raya’s brilliant pass to set up a sweeping move.
Away we go at the Emirates
1 min: Olympiakos get it underway but Arsenal soon enough take up possession. Ben White soon joins the attack as an overlapping full-back. Feels like it’s been a while.
NB: Max Dowman *is* on the bench, and could become the youngest ever Champions League player.
There’s just been a short memorial to poor Billy Vigar, the former Arsenal player who died last week.
Charles Antaki gets in touch: “Yes, no rush. Arsenal fans remember starlets who looked terrific and got the pulses going, only for the sparkle to fade (Charlie Patino) or injuries to rub it out (Krystian Bielik), or just regression to the mean to take over (many, many others). Nwaneri and Dowman’s prospects will be all the firmer for being eased into it.”
Bielik was a decent player for Birmingham and is now at West Brom. Patino is at Deportivo La Coruna, though sadly not a Diego Tristan, Djalminha and not the superb Juan Carlos Valeron quality of team. They’re in the Segunda.
Olympiakos have another familiar face with them: Edu is alongside President Marinakis, as Ange Postecoglou, among others, terms him.
Zach Neeley asks: “Why rotate so much but leave Nwaneri on the bench? In scientific terms, he is very good.”
I suppose Arteta is being careful. Which means Max Dowman fans may have to wait a while yet.
Mikel Arteta spoke to the media at a pre-match news conference at the Emirates on Tuesday.
“We have the same ambition – to go game by game and try to be better than the opponent, which is very difficult in this competition. We want to win as many games as we can. Tomorrow is going to be a really difficult one. We know how important the home form is going to be to reach the phase we want to.”
“What I want with this football club is to win major trophies. Nobody else has to put that line to us. That’s the ambition. Excuses have never been a part of my life.”
Will Arsenal get caught out by those changes? As Jonathan Wilson points out, they have flaws.
Arsenal have over the past couple of seasons become a side with a tendency to get down on themselves, to react badly to misfortune or adversity; that happened to an extent at St James’ as early momentum was lost, but they still had enough to claim the win. Certainly the table looks – and the mood feels – very different now to how it would have done without the late goals in their last two games.
Big words from Arsenal’s key defender: “I cannot leave this club without giving them something back. I’ve won nothing so my first choice was to stay here and win everything first. Every year we’re getting better. This year, we had a lot of experiences from the last three seasons. We know that we’re always close, always close. Now we know how the Premier League is. We know how the Champions League is.
“So we have to stop talking and prove on the pitch that we have to win. Of course, it’s good to talk, but now we have to prove it on the pitch that we are ready to win.
Mikel Arteta has seriously rotated his Arsenal team, Buyako Saka and Eberechi Eze benched. Ben White and Myles-Lewis Skelly at full-back, Mikel Merino, the goal machine, in midfield with fellow Basque Martin Zubimendi. Gabriel Martinelli – “the finisher” – is a starter. Leandro Trossard gets played a lot these days. Jurrien Timber, Riccardo Calafiori and Declan Rice
The teams
Arsenal: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly, Zubimendi, Merino, Odegaard, Trossard, Martinelli, Gyokeres. Subs: Arrizabalaga, Setford, Mosquera, Saka, Eze, Timber, Norgaard, Nwaneri, Calafiori, Rice, Dowman
Olympiacos starting XI: Tzolakis, Ortega, Pirola, El Kaabi, Gelson Martins, Dani Garcia, Costinha, Chiquinho, Hezze, Restos, Podence. Subs: Paschalakis, Kouraklis, Biancone, Kalogeropoulos, Sciponi, Strefezza, Onyemaechi, Pnevmonidis, Mouzakitis, Taremi
That last meeting was five long years ago.
It was followed by a panic we’d all rather forget.
Preamble
The games are coming thick and fast for Mikel Arteta and Arsenal. How will they react to that late win at Newcastle, where a great deal of psychic energy was expended. The aim in the expanded group stage is to get the job done fast, and follow up last time’s defeat of Athletic Club to make it two wins from two. Olympiakos are a familiar adversary. The two have met 12 times, winning six each. They also have a familiar owner in the figure of Evangelos Marinakis.
Kick-off: 8pm UK time. Join me.
