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Arsenal have one foot in the last 16 of the Europa League after Alexandre Lacazette ended a frustrating night by tucking home a late winner at Olympiacos.<\/p>\nArsenal have one foot in the last 16 of the Europa League after Alexandre Lacazette ended a frustrating night by tucking home a late winner at Olympiacos.<\/p>\n
The France international ended a nine-game scoring drought off the bench against Newcastle at the weekend and returned to the starting line-up in Piraeus to hit the winner in a 1-0 victory for the Gunners.<\/p>\n
Lacazette had earlier been guilty of missing the best chance of the night, before he turned home Bukayo Saka\u2019s cross with nine minutes remaining.<\/p>\n
Beaten finalists last season, Arsenal will now have a lead to defend in the round-of-32 second leg at the Emirates Stadium in a week\u2019s time as their defense once again stood tall.<\/p>\n
For a side shipping chance after chance under previous coach Unai Emery, this was a third consecutive clean sheet for an Arsenal team clearly shaping up better at the back with Arteta at the helm.<\/p>\n
The Spaniard had promised to name a strong side and made five alterations from the 4-0 victory at home to Newcastle four days earlier.<\/p>\n
One of those decisions was to retain Bernd Leno as Arteta opted against switching his goalkeepers for this competition.<\/p>\n
That soon paid dividends as the Germany international was forced into action inside three minutes, getting down low to push out Mathieu Valbuena\u2019s effort.<\/p>\n
Arsenal had started slowly and escaped another couple of decent chances for the hosts before they started to get a foothold in the game.<\/p>\n
But Lacazette spurned a glorious chance, firing wide when well-placed in front of Jose Sa\u2019s goal after good work from Joe Willock and Gabriel Martinelli fashioned the shooting opportunity.<\/p>\n
Leno was again on his toes to keep out what would have been an unfortunate David Luiz own goal after the defender diverted a low cross at the first-choice stopper.<\/p>\n
There were few opportunities for either side after the break as the rain continued to fall, Lacazette unable to get enough contact on a header from a Granit Xhaka cross as the Gunners searched for an away goal.<\/p>\n
Arteta turned to Dani Ceballos and club-record signing Nicolas P\u00e9p\u00e9 in the hope of leaving Greece with a victory, but it would be Lacazette, who had left his manager visibly frustrated on a number of occasions throughout the night, who would strike.<\/p>\n
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had been shifted across the front line as Arteta sought a winning formula and he rolled in Saka down the left, with the teenager providing yet another assist as Lacazette got on the end of his low cross.<\/p>\n
Lacazette missed another decent chance as Arsenal broke forward, Sa doing well to turn his shot behind before Shkodran Mustafi hit the crossbar with a header from the resulting corner.<\/p>\n
One goal would have to suffice for Arteta and his players, but it was a hard-fought win which they hope will be enough to see them through in north London next week.<\/p>\n