By Joseph Chapman6 Nov 2013
Arsenal earned a historic victory in Dortmund on Wednesday, as a solitary Aaron Ramsey goal was enough to earn the Gunners three vital points in group F and send them top.
Arsene Wenger chose the same side that defeated Liverpool 2-0 on Saturday, with many injured players still unavailable, while Dortmund were without instrumental duo Lukasz Piszczek and Mats Hummels in defence.
It was very tight early on, especially congested in the centre of midfield where Mikel Arteta and Sven Bender were doing their respective shielding jobs. The Gunners were on the receiving end of the home side's famous pressing game, every red shirt being closed down by a yellow one within seconds of a pass being made.
The first big chance of the evening came after a quarter of an hour. After Arteta had fouled Lewandowski, Reus swung the free kick in. It came to Subotic who, while under pressure from Mertesacker, managed to wrap his foot around the ball, but it glided just wide of Szczesny's post.
Jakub Blaszczykowski was next to go close following good work from Kevin Grosskreutz, but the visitors were struggling to test Roman Weidenfeller at the other end while holding firm themselves.
The hosts should've gone ahead ten minutes before the break. Lewandowski thought he'd been fouled, but the referee let the play continue and Henrikh Mkhitaryan passed up a real opportunity when his left footed effort wrong footed Szczesny, but dribbled wide of the far post.
This Germans continued to turn the screw towards the end of the half, but their English opponents continued to look untroubled. Arsenal, after all, had lost two of their last 50 away matches in all competitions before this match and none this season, so were always going to prove a tough nut to crack. Saying that, BVB had failed to score in only one of their last 60 home games. Something had to give.
Lewandowski dragged wide of goal late into the first period, but overall Arsene Wenger would have been encouraged by his side's efforts, in the driving rain, at the break.
H-T: 0-0
Dortmund started the second period in much the same vein as they'd ended the first, piling pressure on the Arsenal box in numbers. Arteta had to make a clearance facing his own goal when Grosskreutz attempted to ask a question of the Gunners' back-line just a couple of minutes into the 45.
Homegrown Grosskreutz again caused a problem down the right hand side when his cross found an unmarked Marco Reus, whose header forced a diving save out of Szczesny. Mkhitaryan flashed a shot over from the ensuing corner.
Reus had the ball in the net, only to see the offside flag, following a wonderful save by Szczesny from Blaszczykowski, but the home side had clearly received a sharp message from Jurgen Klopp at the break which had roared them into action.
Following another illegal goal from Schmelzer, Arsenal, quite unbelievably, took the lead. Rosicky spread the ball wide to Ozil, whose cross was flicked on by Giroud. Man of the moment Aaron Ramsey was on hand to nod home beyond Weidenfeller for his side's first effort on goal of the night.
Clinical. But this did not deter the team in yellow. Arsenal found their half under siege once more, and Reus really should have netted an immediate equaliser.
The game all of a sudden became so action packed, you couldn't take your eyes away from it. Ramsey could have made it two following a wonderful Giroud pass, but Weidenfeller blocked with his legs. The following corner saw an effort cleared off the line, but within 10 seconds the Gunners found themselves defending their own goal once more.
Lewandowski's penalty appeal was rightly waved away against Arteta, who spent a large chunk of the game on a knife edge with a yellow card. Mertesacker lofted a free kick over the bar, as the visitors threatened to take the game out of their hosts' reach.
Klopp made a double substitution with 15 minutes to go. Jonas Hoffman replaced Sven Bender while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang came on for Blaszczykowski. Arsene Wenger threw on Nacho Monreal in place of Santi Cazorla in an attempt to shore things up.
Julian Schieber also entered the fray for the remaining minutes as the German outfit looked for a late leveller, Lewandowski heading over a corner.
Wenger wound down the clock by introducing Thomas Vermaelen and Nicklas Bendtner for ex-BVB man Rosicky and Giroud, both excellent, as the Frenchman's team saw out an extremely impressive win.
The back-line, especially centre back pairing Mertesacker and Koscielny, were magnificent as 3,500 travelling fans were rewarded for their support
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