But his side went behind against the run of play on 32 minutes when a low shot by Felipe Pardo deflected off Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
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Ospina made a terrible mess of collecting an Olympiakos corner, spilling the ball over his own goal line to restore the Greeks’ advantage.
The 51-year-old was particularly upset with the decision to rest Petr Cech, as reported by The Express, with back-up goalkeeper David Ospina’s blunder ultimately costing the Gunners.
Alexis Sanchez levelled for Arsenal again in the 65th-minute, but the Greeks were ahead again within a minute, thanks to an Alfred Finnbogason goal.
Arsenal legend Bob Wilson has slammed Arsene Wenger for not fielding Petr Cech in last night’s Champions League clash against Olympiacos.
“The results leave us in a bad position, but we are still in it. We have to think that we can deal with Zagreb and Olympiacos, even away from home and we have to make a result in our next game against Bayern at home“.
The Englishman continued his development as a striker with another goal, his second in successive Champions League games after scoring his 12th in 13 Premier League matches at Leicester City on Saturday.
“I don’t give you why [he was selected]”.
Ospina played 23 games in all competitions last season and kept 10 clean sheets for Arsenal.
“OOPSPINA” was the headline in British newspaper the Daily Mirror, while the Daily Express said the former Nice goalkeeper had committed a “calamity” and The Sun said Wenger’s men had been “humiliated”.
Ours and Tottenham’s performances in the Europa League similarly count towards England’s future chances of having four teams in the Champions League.
“It took us a while to get into the game because we had a very intensive game on Saturday“. Cech had a slight [fitness] alert before the game at Leicester. I didn’t want to take a gamble but it’s not because of that we lost the game.
“Things changed when they scored, but we quickly equalised”. We play many games and that is why we rotate – you can not play every three days without rotating your players, that’s a fact.
“I make the decisions and selections for the team and I’m responsible for it”, said Wenger when asked what the fans would make of Cech’s omission.
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Walcott eventually returned the creative favour for Sanchez with a clipped cross for the Chilean to head home an equaliser on 65 minutes – and that should have been the cue for Arsenal to climb through their attacking gears and overwhelm their opponents.
