More injury woe overshadows Arsenal victory over Shakhtar Donetsk

They were far from their best but two wins and a draw from their opening three games sets them up nicely.

The overwhelming worry, for Arsenal supporters, however, was the continued absence from their squad of captain Martin Odegaard and key forward Bukayo Saka.

Neither are now expected to start or even feature in Sunday’s visit of early season Premier League leaders Liverpool. The same can be said of defender Jurrien Timber, who also failed to make the squad last night.

Added to that troubled trio were full-backs Ben White and Riccardo Calafiori as neither made it through the testing 90 minutes. White, only recently back from injury, was withdrawn at half-time and Italian star Calafiori limped off midway through the second period. Defensive talisman William Saliba is suspended at the weekend too.

Arteta is going to be at his mercurial best to get his squad both physically and mentally in top gear for what could be a pivotal meeting against their old rivals at the weekend.

A win after Saturday’s chastening defeat at Bournemouth was essential and expected against Ukraine opposition that endured a 17-hour journey from their besieged country of planes trains and automobiles to get to London.

Their reward as not to be humiliated by a big defeat after going behind in the first half and they played well enough to nearly snatch a late equaliser, but that would have been harsh on Arsenal too.

Shakhtar just about survived an opening wave of Arsenal attacks in which Calafiori was guilty of shooting over the bar when he really should have scored. Was this the angry Arsenal looking to make amends for their weekend defeat Arteta had demanded to see?

Some sloppy defending from White nearly let Eguinaldo to score the opener for the visitors soon after, so one could hardly say Arsenal were instantly back to their brutal best.

The noise coming from the packed section of the away fans went up another level when their Brazilian forward won a corner with only their second shot on target of their three Champions League matches this season.

Even the sight of Gabriel Martinelli shooting Arsenal ahead right in front of them failed to dampen their exuberance. The Brazil winger, guilty of a crucial miss at Bournemouth on Saturday, cut inside to fire a fizzing low shot which cannoned off a post and into the back of the net off the back of bamboozled keeper Dmytro Riznyk.

There is every chance the stinging shot will go down as an own goal, but the young Arsenal forward deserves the credit. The lead, secured just inside the opening half an hour, was well deserved for the way Arsenal had largely dominated possession and attacked with pace and purpose.

Even without the attacking invention of Saka and Odegaard there seemed little doubt Arsenal would find a way through an acquiescent Shakhtar line up that featured a five-man defence behind a defence minded four-man midfield.

Manager Marino Pusic seemed to have damage limitation in mind with his selection and tactics, leaving both sides relatively happy with the half-time scoreline of one-nil to the Arsenal.

White failed to come out for the second half (replaced by Mikel Merino with Thomas Partey withdrawing to right-back) in what initially looked like another pre-Liverpool injury scare.

He did not look comfortable in the first half but his withdrawal could possibly be explained by Arteta not wanting to risk him collecting a second yellow card and becoming the fourth Arsenal player to be sent off this season.

Merino is a more attack-minded player than Partey and the change did result in more forward play from Arsenal, but with little sign of reward as chances came and went for Martinelli and Kai Havertz.

Keeper Riznyk looked an accident waiting to happen too. That said, he did make a good stop with his feet from a Leandro Trossard penalty midway through the second half.

As it was it took a late great save by David Raya from Pedrinho to keep the scoreline as it was at the break. The home support ended up cheering saves and clearances as much as their attacks in the end and Raya even indulged in some injury-time delays to help get the win over the line.

Bigger tests are to come for Arsenal in domestic and European competition but they will rarely face a prouder and more determined side than the men from Ukraine.

Arsenal: Raya 6, White 6 (Merino 45), Saliba 6, Gabriel 6, Calafiori 6 (Lewis-Skelly 70), Martinelli 7, Rice 6, Partey 6, Trossard 6 (Jorginho 88'), Jesus 6 (Sterling 68), Havertz 6.

Unused subs: Neto, Setford, Robinson, Monlouis, Kiwior, Zinchenko, Jorginho, Nwaneri, Butler-Oyedeji.

Shakhtar Donetsk: Riznyk 5, Konoplia 6, Bondar 6, Matviyenko 6, Pedro Henrique 6, Zubkov 6 (Pedrinho 63), Bondarenko 6 (Marlon Gomes 87), Kryskiv 6, Eguinaldo 7 (Traoré 84'), Sudakov 6, Sikan 6 (Kevin 63).

Unused subs: Fesiun, Franjic, Azarov, Vinicius, Ghram, Stepanenko, Shved, Marlon, Newertton, Traore.

Referee: Benoit Bastien (France).