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  • Kick-off delayed by congestion and crowd safety fears
  • Arsenal did not start performing until the second half
 Updated 
Thu 14 Sep 2017 19.31 EDTFirst published on Thu 14 Sep 2017 14.00 EDT
Alexis Sanchez of Arsenal makes it 2-1 in the 67th minute.
Alexis Sanchez of Arsenal makes it 2-1 in the 67th minute. Photograph: Mark Kerton/Action Plus via Getty Images
Alexis Sanchez of Arsenal makes it 2-1 in the 67th minute. Photograph: Mark Kerton/Action Plus via Getty Images

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Full-time: Arsenal 3-1 Cologne

What threatened to be a night of embarrassment for Arsenal turned into a highly satisfying encounter. The change was triggered at half-time, when Wenger switched personnel and formation, and his players found some gumption and zest. They scored some lovely goals and ran out deserving winners.

87 min: Wonderful by Arsenal! They swept from one end of the pitch to the other with artful slickness, Giround and Wilshere both contributing perfect heel-flicked passes before Maitland-Niles fed Sanchez on the left-hand side of the box. The Chilean tries an outrageous dink over the keeper ... but ti just drops wide of the far post. What a beautiful ending that would have been to a marvellous move.

84 min: Arsenal are cruising now. Wilshere, who had brought guile to central midfield, exchanges passes with Elneny before a flowing move founders at the edge of the Cologne box.

GOAL! Arsenal 3-1 Cologne (Bellerin 81)

That should seal a rousing comeback! Kolasinac bombs down the left and pulls a low pass back to the edge of the area. Wilshere wrongfoots the entire defence by selling them a dummy, allowing the ball to run through to Walcott. He takes a touch and falls over Welbeck-style as he gets off a scruffy shot, but when the keeper only parries, Bellerin follows up to thrash into the net from 10 yards.

A quick reaction from Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin puts the result beyond doubt. Photograph: John Sibley/Action Images via Reuters
Bellerin celebrates his goal. Photograph: John Sibley/Action Images via Reuters
Down the other end of the pitch, David Ospina gives a big sigh of his release after his mistake lead to Cologne taking the lead. Photograph: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
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79 min: An arsenal corner is headed clear. Well, not quite: it’s headed to just outside the area, where Elneny meets the dropping ball with a fierce volley. A defender hurls himself in front of it to make a block.

76 min: Wilshere - did I mention he came on for Iwobi in the 68th minute? - bisects the Cologne defence with a low ball through to Sanchez, who’s allowed to play on despite being about three yards offside. The keeper rushes out to close him down and he tries to curl it over him into the far corner. But he gets his connection all wrong and wafts the ball wide.

74 min: Freekick from 30 yards for Arsenal, who are bossing this now. Sanchez curls it over the wall and hits the target. But it was far too gentle a shot to beat Horn.

71 min: Cordoba turns past Mertesacker on half-way and then charges past Monreal and towards the box. He shoots low and hard from 16 yards, but Ospina bats a way his shot at the near post.

69 min: Bellerin receives a pass and sh ... moves to turbo-speed, zooming forward at a cracking lick. In other news, typos are a lovable sign of high energy and an eagerness to satisfy readers.

GOAL! Arsenal 2-1 Cologne (Sanchez 67)

He’s back and he’s still brilliant! Sanches runs wide to collect an over-hit pass from Iwobi. Then he shimmies his way infield, across the edge of the area and, from near the D, sends a delicious curler past a befuddled keeper and into the top corner!

After shimmying inside, Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez unleashes a curler which flies into the top corner. Photograph: Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images
Sanchez celebrates scoring their second goal. Photograph: Steve Bardens/UEFA via Getty Images
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62 min: Maitland-Niles plays a dinky one-two to slice through the heart of the Cologne defence. The youngsters then tries to feint his way past the keeper, but Horn read his intentions and dives at his feet to make a vital interception.

60 min: This time it’s Bellerin who gives the ball away in midfield, and he doesn’t get back in time to prevent a Cologne shot. Bittencourt has a pop from 25 yards. It’s struck hard and true, but too close to Ospina, who pats it down before picking it up.

58 min: A loose pass by Iwobi in midfield allows Cologne to throb forward again. But Bellerin shifts to turbo-speed to dash back and rescue his team.

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55 min: Arsenal are working up a fine head of steam. Iwobi and Sanchez combine in a flowing move before the Chilean sweeps the ball wide to Bellerin. He whips in a vicious low cross. A defender stabs it off the foot off Walcott.

52 min: Kolasinac, endearing himself still further to Arsenal fans, exchanges pass with Sanchez down the left before cutting the ball back from the byline. Cologne manage to force the ball back out of the box but Sanchez retrieves it and scoops it back in. Iwobi charges in to meet it with a flying volley from the edge of the area. It’s a respectable attempt but whizzes a few yards over the bar.

GOAL! Arsenal 1-1 Cologne (Kolasinac 48)

Another clever run by Walcott was rewarded with a dainty chipped pass by Elneny. Walcott’s first touch took him away from goal, towards the left-hand side of the box. He tries to cross but it was blocked. However the ball ricocheted to Kolasinac, who whacked it first time past the keeper and into the far corner! Wenger’s half-time changes paid off in style: give that man a new two-year contract!

A fantastic finish from Sead Kolasinac gets Arsenal back into the game. Photograph: Catherine Ivill/AMA/Getty Images
Arsenal’s Sead Kolasinac is congratulated by his team-mates after scoring their first goal. Photograph: Reuters
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47 min: To a soundtrack of cloudy crooning Germans and silently sulking Gooners, Arsenal cobble together an attack. Sanchez tip-toes between two opponents and then clips a lovely ball over the top for Walcott, who takes it down on the right-hand corner of the box. It’s a fine shooting chance ... until the assistant referee raises his flag for offside. Bad decision! Walcott had timed his run well.

46 min: Wenger has made a substitution: Holding off, Kolasinac on. Holding struggled, to be fair, and the personnel change also means a formation change, as Arsenal switch from a back three to a flat back four, the Bosnian going to left-back.

Practically outnumbered by German fans in their own stadium and outwitted on the pitch by a side that has lost every match it has played in the Bundesliga this season, Arsenal are having a mare, all told. True, they are not at full-strength because Wenger has rested key players for this weekend’s trip to Stamford Bridge (more larks ahoy!), but this has been a deflating performance so far. The defence has been constantly stretched, the midfield uninspired and the attackers blunt. Walcott has been dreadful weak and aimless on the ball, and Sanchez erratic. Giroud has put himself about but got meagre service - a couple of good crosses have reached him, though, and he failed to make the most of them. Arsenal have the ability to overturn this deficit but will need to improve a lot to do so. As things stand, you can just about imagine the hosts scoring but Cologne look good for another goal on the break.

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Half-time: Arsenal 0-1 Cologne

The boos from the home fans are only slightly louder than the cheers of the travelling horde.

45+1 min: Holding is berated by home supporters when, after being invited to carry the ball forward, he turns around and plays the ball back to Mertesacker. But he’s not been the only arsenal player short of ideas today. They’ve had a lot of possession but done little with it.

45 min: Monreal hoiks over a decent cross from the left by-line. But Rausch clears. They’ve defended very well so far.

42 min: Arsenal, low on ideas, pass the ball around in front of the massed Cologne team, posing no problem. “Fighting at NY Jets games occurs because the stakes and expectations are so low it’s rather easy to take offense,” suggests Ken Houghton. “Especially for a team that hasn’t seriously contended for the championship of its sport since 1969. Arsenal fans should be able to relate.”

40 min: Cologne win a corner. But for a moment it looked like they might get more, as Bittencourt led another lightning counter. Elneny got back well to stick his cross from the left out for the corner. Which is then cleared at the near post.

38 min: A good burst by Iwobi, who wins the ball mid-way inside the Cologne half and darts forward before flipping the ball wide to Sanchez. The Chilean chips a nice cross over to Giroud, who leaps above his marker to get his head to it. But from eight yards out, he nods wide.

Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud is unable to direct his header on target. Photograph: Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images
He knows he should have done better with that chance. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
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36 min: Walcott is shunted off the ball easily down the right wing, allowing Cologne to mount another raid. Jojic crosses from the left - and Iwobi calmly defuses the situation at the back post by chesting the ball back to Ospina.

Cologne substitution: Hector hobbles off, seemingly having injured an ankle after a challenge with Ospina. Jojic replaces him.

32 min: The ball bounces loose to Elneny some 20 yards from goal. He lashes it with the outside of his boot, seven to ten yards wide.

28 min: Klunter joins in an attack down the left and then lets fly with a hopeful shot from 25 yards. It’s deflected wide, which is lucky for him because it was a weak shot and would have been saved easily if it had reached the goal. The ensuing corner is miscued ... and suddenly Arsenal are racing forward on a counter-attack. But Sanchez plays an uncharacteristically sloppy pass as he tries to find Giroud.

25 min: Elneny spanks a long diagonal ball wide to Bellerin on the right. The Spaniard crosses early towards Giroud. But Rausch read his intentions and intercepted well.

23 min: A fine sliding tackle by Holding on half-way sends the ball towards Iwobi, who controls (possibly with the help of an arm) and then clips a nice pass through to Walcott, dashing into the right-hand side of the box. Pressure from Rausch is enough to discombobulate Walcott, who slashes at his shot from 15 yards, sending the ball trickling wide.

Arsenal’s Theo Walcott tussles with Cologne’s Konstantin Rausch. Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA
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22 min: Cologne stretch the hosts with another rapid counter-attack, but Arsenal get a reprieve when Cordoba mis-hits a attempted cross from the left.

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