Arsenal 1-2 Olympiacos: Last-gasp El-Arabi winner dumps sloppy Gunners out of the Europa League on away goals
There is little doubt that this was the worst performance of Mikel Arteta’s reign.
Arsenal squandered a 1-0 advantage coming into the home leg of their Europa League round of 32 tie as Olympiacos won 2-1 on the night following a last-minute winner in extra-time from Youssef El-Arabi to go through on away goals.
It was a performance devoid of all the qualities Arteta had seeked to instill in his players – the so-called non-negotiables.
The Gunners retained possession of the ball for large periods but were severely lacking creativity, despite fielding their strongest XI.
Flat in the first half and lacking any attacking precision in the second, they were forced to play an additional 30 minutes.
And despite a sensational overhead kick from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the 113th minute to give Arsenal the advantage, Olympiacos responded six minutes later as El-Arabi latched onto a cross at the far post to tuck the ball past Bernd Leno to make Arsenal pay for their complacency.
No product
Arsenal have made a habit of playing well in patches under Arteta, but tonight they were unable to string enough good passages of play together to make the difference.
The first half was characterised by slow tempo and sideways passes, which in some cases went straight out of play.
Both Granit Xhaka and Shkodran Mustafi hit cross-field balls to advertising boards and those further forward fared little better as the familiar feeling of frustration stretched around the Emirates Stadium.
The ball reached the final third with more regularity during the second half, and particularly toward the end of the 90 minutes and extra-time as Arsenal chased a winner following Papa Abou Cisse’s headed goal from a poorly defended corner in the 54th minute.
Arteta’s side looked to have been gifted a get out of jail free card by Aubameyang late on, but it wasn’t enough.
After Olympiacos regained the initiative, the Arsenal captain had a much easier chance in stoppage-time of extra-time but missed from five yards out, epitomising the Gunners dreadful display.
Organised Olympiacos
The Greek outfit deserve credit for their defensive resilience and showed why they have kept nine clean sheets in their last 11 league games.
They defended deep and prevented Arsenal from playing between the lines with any ease. On the odd occasion the Gunners had the opportunity to counter-attack, they were able to deal with it, even if it was made easy for them.
They came with a game plan to defend and try and nick a goal against the run of play and it worked.
Cisse’s thunderous header was completely preventable from Arsenal’s perspective as their defensive frailties were exposed again, allowing the defender to run onto the ball in the six-yard box unmarked.
It kept them in it until the very death and in a tie that could have gone either way, a late snatch and grab ensured Olympiacos progressed.
Improving Pepe
If any of the players could leave the Emirates unashamed it was Nicolas Pepe.
While Alexandre Lacazette’s struggles upfront continued, and Aubameyang was unusually off the boil, the 24-year-old was Arsenal’s main attacking outlet.
His pace was a threat on the counter-attack and on one occasion in the first half he was brought down on the edge of the box when through on goal, with Ousseynou Ba lucky not to be sent off.
In the second half he created chances and drew fouls, and with 15 minutes of normal time left he twisted defenders inside out several times in the penalty area but could only win a corner, before a minute later he forced a great save out of Jose Sa.
But for all his pace and skill, he too was guilty of a lack of end-product, as Arsenal stumbled to a shock defeat and early exit from the Europa League.