Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang came off the bench to score the winner in a 2-1 victory over Rapid Vienna in the Europa League on Thursday.
The Gunners fell behind in shocking circumstances as Bernd Leno’s pass was cut out by Ercan Kara as Taxiarchis Fountas picked up the loose ball to punish the goalkeeper in the 51st minute.
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Leno almost gifted the Austrians another goal when his clearance cannoned off David Luiz and into the path of Fountas, who shot off target from distance just before the hour mark.
Arsenal levelled through David Luiz when he headed in Nicolas Pepe’s free-kick in the 70th minute.
And they took the lead just four minutes later as Hector Bellerin squared to fellow substitute Aubameyang, who passed the ball into an empty net.
Another positive for Arsenal was the full debut of £45million summer signing Thomas Partey, who played the full 90 minutes in their Europa League opener.
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The Gunners were toothless going forward until Aubameyang was introduced in the 61st minute.
In a drab first-half, Kara came closest to breaking the deadlock when he dragged his close-range shot across goal three minutes before the break.
Leno’s error gave Rapid Vienna a deserved lead as they targeted his first touch at every given chance.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta showed huge faith in Leno by opting to sell Emiliano Martinez, who performed superbly in the German’s absence last season, to Aston Villa for £20m.
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However, his error will raise question marks over Arteta’s decision to part ways with Martinez, who has kept three clean sheets in his first four matches for Villa.
Another goalkeeping error worked in Arsenal’s favour as Richard Strebinger needlessly raced off his line as Luiz beat him to the ball to draw the Gunners level.
And a smart passing move from Arsenal resulted in Mohamed Elneny finding Bellerin, who assisted Aubameyang for his first goal since signing a new Arsenal deal last month.
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