Gunners slip up in midweek thanks to late goals

Arsenal slid to their second defeat in a row as goals from Klass-Jan Huntelaar and Ibrahim Afellay sealed a 2-0 win for Schalke at the Emirates on Wednesday in the Champions League. The defeat meant that Arsenal's long unbeaten run at home in Europe had now come to an end. Arsenal were very poor, as they had been against Norwich at the weekend and once more failed to create many clear cut opportunities. The only shot on target came from the boot of 17 year old Serge Gnabry, that tells you all you need to know about how poor the Gunners were on the night. The midfield once again lived up to expectation, as did Per Mertsacker. However Andre Santos was ripped apart by Farfan all night whilst the attack failed to create much up top. Arsenal made just one change to the starting lineup as Francis Coquelin replaced Olivier Giroud as Ramsey pushed out wide with Gervinho down the middle. Meanwhile Marouane Chamakh returned to the substitutes bench.

Arsenal could do with the fire power of opening scorer Huntelaar after failing to score for 2 games in a row

The first chance of the game came 9 minutes in as Podolski found Gervinho at the near post but he steered his shot wide.

Arsenal had dominated the first 10 minutes and Schalke then tried to claim for a penalty as it looked like Mannone had brought down Afellay when in fact the Dutch winger had dived, and was subsequently booked.

Santi Cazorla then let fly from range as he got into a shooting position before seeing his effort deflected wide.

Schalke then had their first real chance as Uchida got to the byline before cutting the ball back to Farfan who stepped inside one man but Mertesacker slid in to block the attempt.

Just before the break the German side almost took the lead. Uchida was once more allowed to get beyond the Arsenal defence before sliding the ball to Huntelaar who put the ball wide when he should have scored.

The score at half time was 0-0.

Arsenal almost immediately had a chance to score as Cazorla wriggled out of the challenges before feeding Santos. His ball into the box found Coquelin who then found Ramsey but his flick fell into the hands of the goalkeeper.

Schalke then had a great opportunity to put themselves in front as Farfan skipped past Santos before finding Howedes who put the ball over from 12 yards out.

It was then the Gunners turn to appeal for a penalty as Gervinho got past Jones but then as the ball got away from the Ivorian he dived and the referee once again showed the yellow card and waved away the Arsenal protests.

With just 15 minutes left, Schalke took the lead. The ball was headed back into the box towards Huntelaar who beat the offside trap to smash the ball beyond Mannone and into the back of the net.

10 minutes later Schalke were 2 goals to the good. Farfan managed to get down the right hand side before sliding the ball across the box into Afellay who fired home at the back post.

In the last minute of the match, Arsenal finally had their first shot on target. Serge Gnabry cut inside from the right before seeing his shot beaten away. The ball went only as far as Cazorla but he put the shot over.

The final score finished Arsenal 0-2 Schalke.

The teams lineups:

Arsenal: Mannone, Jenkinson(83), Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Santos, Coquelin, Arteta, Cazorla, Ramsey, Podolski(83), Gervinho(75).
Subs: Shea, Djourou, Koscielny, Arshavin(83), Gnabry(83), Chamakh, Giroud(75).

Schalke: Unnerstall, Uchida, Howedes, Matip, Fuchs, Neustadter, Hoger(45), Holtby(65), Afellay, Farfan, Huntelaar(88).
Subs: Hildebrand, Kolasinac, Moritz, Jones(45), Barnetta(65), Draxler, Marica(88).

My man of the match: Francis Coquelin

Referee: Jonas Eriksson(SWE)
Attendance: 60,049