Arsenal got their Europa League campaign off to a winning start against Cologne on a chaotic night at the Emirates Stadium,

Kick-off in north London was delayed by an hour following crowd trouble when 20,000 visiting fans made their way to the stadium, despite only being given a 3,000 allocation.

When the action finally got started Jhon Cordoba put the visitors in front, delighting their many fans who had infiltrated the home end.

Arsenal struck back after half-time through Sead Kolasinac's sweetly-struck shot before an Alexis Sanchez stunner put Arsene Wenger's men ahead.

Hector Bellerin scored a late third to give the Gunners a successful start in Group H.

The Gunners claimed a win on a crazy night at the Emirates (
Image:
Getty)
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Neil McLeman was at the Emirates and handed out his player ratings here...

Arsenal

Ospina 5 - Europa or Champions League, Colombian keeper consistently cocks-up in Europe

Holding 4 - Replaced at half-time by Sead Kolasinac. Totally off the pace

Mertesacker 6 - First appearance for the big German since his head injury in the Community Shield

Monreal 7 - Arsenal’s most composed defender. Calm in possession

Cologne fans lit flares during the game (
Image:
AFP)

Bellerin 6 - Deployed as a right wing-back but could not get forward

Iwobi 5 - Not a central midfielder for a top-four club. Subbed off

Elneny 6 - Pass to Walcott set up equaliser. Always available to take ball

Maitland-Niles 6 - Shifted from a left wing-back role into the middle of the park

Walcott 7 - Kept busy. Set up equaliser with his darting run

Giroud 6 - First start of the season. Still on 99 Arsenal goals

Sanchez netted for the Gunners (
Image:
Action Images via Reuters)

AlexisSanchez7 - Counting down the days to the January transfer window till stunning winner

Subs:

Kolasinac (Holding 46) 7 - Scored equaliser and looked like he cared about the result

Wilshere (Iwobi 68) 6

Cologne (4-1-4-1)

Horn 6; Klunter 6, Mere 7, Heintz 6, Rausch 7; Lehmann 7; Zoller 6 (Risse,64,5 ), Hoger 7, Hector 5 (Jojic, 35,6), Bittencourt 7; Cordoba 8

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