It came in the end. The wait for a deadlock breaking Arsenal goal lasted 78 minutes, but significantly, the crowd stayed patient and those that make some noise during the game continued to back the team. With hindsight, you could say the win was only a matter of time, but with the clock ticking down the prospect of a goalless draw did start to appear like a reality.

Eduardo was the first sub, and ultimately created the tap-in for Robin van Persie to give his team the lead. Arsenal played a good authoritative game. Olympiacos do not have a great record on the road in this competition, but that didn’t make them cannon fodder. Until Van Persie’s opener, it was just one of those nights in front of goal. The shots were on target, but the Greek keeper had the kind of game Vito Mannone enjoyed at Fulham on Sunday, at least until the final decisive moments.

I was watching from a hospitality box behind the north end goal (and a million thanks to Garry for that – here’s a plug for your nine to five business in return) and even from there Arshavin looked offside for the cheeky back-heeled second. You knew it was iffy when the replay on the big screen from the telling angle suddenly cut away to the scoreline as they were replaying the goal. Not that it made much difference, as the visitors had expended most of their energy trying to keep Arsenal at bay.

Despite my location, I was sitting amongst real football fans, one of whom could no longer take his original seat in the upper tier because he’d been ejected for bad language! It was remarked that Gael Clichy was not looking like the player he was – even defensively – and that it would be good if he felt there was a little more competition for his place. I could only agree. We all like the player, and his attitude is spot on, but errors have started to creep into his game a little too frequently. The kind of errors that someone like Eboue would be slaughtered for.

Wenger is happy enough to keep Bacary Sagna on his toes by playing Eboue sometimes, but it doesn’t seem to work that way with Clichy and Gibbs. He will drop Almunia, so the question remains why he is so loyal to his left back. Perhaps it has something to do with the amount of ground he covers, the physical stats. There has to come a time when intercepting the ball and not being caught in possession is more important though. He was guilty of that a couple of times against Olympiacos.

Still, that’s a minor point as far as last night is concerned. Arsenal won, and won well, even if a bit of patience was required. The team are on a run of five wins in all competitions, keeping a clean sheet in the last four of those. At this stage of the season, it’s simply about winning the games you would expect them to and establishing momentum and good habits. That didn’t happen last season. Here’s hoping the lessons have been learned.

Kevin Whitcher is the co-author of ‘Arsènal: the Making of a Modern Superclub’. The book can be bought by onlinegooner readers in paperback direct from the publishers with a £1 discount offer on the already discounted price. To take advantage of this offer, Click this link, select ‘buy now’, and on the next page you will have the opportunity to enter a promo code. Enter the word ‘gooner’ here and the amount is recalculated to £4.99. So, a £1 saving. Postage and packing (£2.49 in the UK) will be added before you complete your order.