Olympiakos 1-3 Arsenal: Gunners take first leg lead in Europa League round of 16 tie

Martin Odegaard steered Arsenal towards a resounding first leg victory over Olympiakos in their Europa League round of 16 tie.

An excellent night for the Gunners was rounded off by Mohamed Elneny’s superb long-range shot at the end.

With three valuable goals away from home, Mikel Arteta’s team is well placed to avoid a repeat of his dramatic departure to the Greek champions last season.

However, the Spaniard will not be happy with a series of defensive failures.

The loose play of both David Luiz and Odegaard went without penalty, but they weren’t so lucky when goalkeeper Bernd Leno got substitute Dani Ceballos into trouble, and his last season tormentor El Arabi scored the tie.

Until then, they more than deserved their lead with Odegaard atoning for an early mistake with a goal that fooled local goalkeeper José Sa.

And in a dominant early display Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was also denied a goal with Sa brilliantly deflecting his header to the crossbar.

But instead of running away with the game, Arsenal’s determination came to the fore at the Karaiskakis Stadium to the second time in less than a month.

Twelve minutes after El Arabi had turned down the opportunity to put the hosts ahead, Gabriel rose above his marker to head into Willian’s right corner, with a late effort from Elneny adding a deserved sparkle to the result.

‘Anything can happen’ – what they said

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta speaking to BT Sport: “We started the game very well, really dominant and creating a lot of opportunities.

“We gave them a goal trying to play from behind, but then we reacted well to score two more goals. Overall, a very positive result, but we have to stop making the mistakes that are costing goals because we can’t sustain that.”

“It’s not about concentration, it’s about when you play the ball. It’s not about stopping the way we play because it’s us. We were really solid, really dominant. We showed a lot of personality to come here and dominate like. Next thing is to do that. for 90 minutes and give nothing to the opponent.

“This is halftime and anything can happen. Focus and we started 0-0 again in the second leg and we try to win the game.”

Willian, the provider again – the statistics

• Arsenal have won eight of their nine Europa League games this season (D1) and are the competition’s top scorer so far (27 goals).
• Having won their first three home meetings with Arsenal in all competitions, Olympiakos have lost their last three against the Gunners at home.
• Willian has provided more assists to Arsenal in all competitions than any other player this season (7), including setting up Gabriel’s three strikes for the Gunners.
• Mohamed Elneny’s four goals for Arsenal have come in European competition (1x Champions League, 3x Europa League), three of them from outside the area.
• Martin Odegaard’s goal in the first half was his first goal for Arsenal. The Gunners have now had more different scorers in the Europa League this season than any other team (14).
• No player has made more mistakes leading to a goal in the Europa League this season than Dani Ceballos (2) of Arsenal, with the Spaniard’s two errors in his last two games (also against Benfica).
• Olympiakos’s Youssef El-Arabi has scored in his last two Europa League games against Arsenal, and his two goals against the Gunners represent 50% of his total in the competition.

More to follow.