Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie, Zubimendi, Rice, Eze, Saka, Martinelli, Gyokeres

Subs: Arrizabalaga, Ranson, White, Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly, Mosquera, Salmon, Norgaard, Madueke, Dowman, Havertz, Jesus

Arsenal have work to do in their Champions League round of 16 second leg after drawing 1-1 against Bayer Leverkusen at the BayArena, thanks to a late penalty from Kai Havertz.

Mikel Arteta made ten changes from the side that beat Mansfield on Saturday, with Gabriel Martinelli the only survivor in a new look side.

Piero Hincapie was selected to start against his former club although Havertz had to settle for a place on the bench, alongside Riccardo Calafiori, Max Dowman and Gabriel Jesus.

FIRST HALF

It was a strong start from Arsenal who took charge of possession right away, and Leverkusen captain Andrich was fortunate not to be sent off within the first five minutes after two blatant fouls on Viktor Gyokeres – one pull he was carded for, but he somehow escaped another for a bodycheck moments later.

Bayer Leverkusen did settle after those nervy early moments and had two attempts of their own (neither troubled David Raya), before Gabriel Martinelli whacked the crossbar with a sharp left footed strike following some good play involving Timber, Eze and Gyokeres.

The rest of the first half, however, was fairly uneventful and Leverkusen did their best to slow the game down with small fouls in midfield and were no strangers to going down easily themselves, which made things difficult for Arteta’s men to build any momentum.

Arsenal had a lot of the ball but couldn’t really do anything with it, and were too slow and/or loose when opportunities did present themselves in the final third. Kofane was an effective out-ball for Leverkusen up against Saliba and Gabriel.

SECOND HALF

Neither side made changes at half time but Leverkusen started with intent and almost took the lead straight from kick off after a good team move saw Grimaldo cross for Terrier, but his header was well saved by Raya.

But from the resulting corner, Leverkusen did take the lead and it was Andrich who got the goal – escaping his marker to head home powerfully at the back post. It was poor marking from the Gunners who got done at their own game. 1-0.

With an hour on the clock, Arteta had seen enough and Saka (who struggled all night) was replaced by Noni Madueke in hope of adding some spark to the attack.

Arsenal continued to move the ball side-to-side without any real incision or conviction, with Leverkusen defending quite comfortably in their shape and waiting for opportunities to break with Kofane continuing to hold the ball up well.

Arteta brought Kai Havertz on for Gyokeres with 15 minutes to play, before Gabriel Jesus replaced Eze shortly after with the Gunners still searching for a goal.

With the clock winding down, Timber had a good chance to equalise when Martinelli sent in a decent cross from the left, but he couldn’t get over the ball despite rising well in the box and sent his header over.

But Arsenal finally created a moment when Madueke did well to dart inside two defenders before being brought down in the box by Tillman, who lunged in desperately to stop the forward advancing.

Replays showed contact on the foot of Madueke although it was slightly soft, but it was checked and approved by VAR with Havertz stepping up and slotting past Blaswich to score against his former club. 1-1.

Considering how the Gunners played for most of this match, it was great to equalise and come away from this tie with a result with work to do at Emirates Stadium. The German side were impressive and well organised throughout but Arteta’s men were never able to trouble their opponents with a passive performance.

Sometimes you have to take the draw and get out.