Arsenal beat Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League thanks to an own goal by goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk as they bounced back from defeat by Bournemouth at the weekend.
Gabriel Martinelli’s effort in the 29th minute bounced off the post and hit the Shakhtar keeper in the back before trickling over the line as the home side’s dominance paid off.
The Gunners started the match brightly and Riccardo Calafiori should have opened the scoring, before Gabriel Jesus had a good chance after the goal but was denied by Riznyk.
Shakhtar were well organised and provided a threat on the counter-attack with winger Eguinaldo keeping the Arsenal backline on their toes.
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side are already struggling with injury problems and were without captain Martin Odegaard and key man Bukayo Saka.
The Spanish boss may have more problems to think about as Ben White did not come out for the second half, although he was on a yellow card, and Calafiori was withdrawn after receiving treatment following an awkward slip.
Leandro Trossard had the chance to score a second for Arsenal from the penalty spot late on, after the video assistant referee deemed Valerii Bondar’s arm to be in an unnatural position, but his effort was poor and saved by the impressive Riznyk.
Pedrinho almost snatched a draw for the away side in stoppage time but his effort from the edge of the box was excellently saved by David Raya.
Arsenal will be delighted to be back to winning ways after what they hope was a blip against Bournemouth and now can focus on a crucial game against top-of-the-table Liverpool on Sunday.
More injury woe for Gunners?
Arsenal will begin the build-up to Liverpool’s visit knowing that the performance against Shakhtar was not nearly their best.
Before the match, Arteta wanted there to be perspective around the Gunners’ season so far, given the defeat at Bournemouth was their first for 17 matches.
He named a strong side, with William Saliba, Declan Rice and Kai Havertz all in the starting XI as Arsenal looked to stretch their unbeaten start in Europe.
Jesus, without a goal so far this season, was given the captaincy as Arteta looked to get the frontman firing again.
The Brazilian showed nice touches and a strong work rate but did not take any of the good chances that were presented to him.
Another worry for Arteta is the growing list of injuries.
With Saka, Odegaard and Jurrien Timber all missing, the Arsenal boss can hardly afford to go without any more key players.
However, Arteta may well have to assess all defensive options before the weekend after left-back Calafiori was taken off and right-back White was withdrawn at half-time. Calafiori suffered an injury that Arteta later acknowledged was a cause for concern.
The new Champions League format means the table can be hard to gauge at this early stage, but the Gunners are in an obviously strong position with seven points from their first three games.
