LONDON, Sporting Alert – The poor run of Chelsea this season continued while Arsenal were beaten again in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Both English Premier League sides failed to take care of business on Match Day Two and have put themselves in uncomfortable positions.
Arsenal who fell to Dinamo Zagreb in their opening game, was beaten again, this time at home by Olympiakos.
Felipe Pardo and an own goal from goalkeeper David Ospina, twice put Olympiakos ahead, but Theo Walcott and Alexis Sanchez struck on either side of both those goals and things were all evened up at 2-2 in the 65th.
However, Alfred Finnbogason grabbed the winner one-minute after Sanchez leveled the scores and the visitors held on to take the three points.
With two defeats already and the red-hot Bayern Munich still to play twice, Arsenal might have dug themselves into a hole they won’t recover from.
Manager Arsene Wenger is still believing.
“It is still possible of course to qualify but it is difficult to swallow losing a game like that,” the Frenchman said.
“We lost it on a lack of defensive concentration and bad luck. They had four shots on goal and we conceded three goals.
“The turning point at 2-2 is we give them a goal again straight away. If it stays 2-2 for five minutes we win the game.
“A goalkeeper can make a mistake that doesn’t explain that we lose the game. It happened to Petr Cech already this season [against West Ham].”
CHELSEA DROPPED ON THE ROAD
Meanwhile, Chelsea’s torrid poor form this season extended into Europe after Jose Mourinho’s men suffered a shocking 2-1 defeat at FC Porto.
Andre Andre put the home side ahead in the 39th minute, but Willian scored the equaliser two-minutes into first half stoppage time with another free-kicks – his third in three straight games.
But former Manchester City full-back Maicon found the back of the next with the winner for FC Porto from a header in the 52nd minute off a corner kick taken by Ruben Neves.
Mourinho, who started with star playmaker Eden Hazard, Nemanja Matic and John Terry all on the bench, was furious with his team’s loss of focus before conceding a “ridiculous” goal.
“We watch dozens and dozens of repetitions of Porto taking corners,” he said after the game. “We were completely ready for that and in a moment when the game is under control we concede a goal that is ridiculous.
“They hit the post from a similar mistake. Apart from that the game was balanced. Two ridiculous moments and we were punished.”
Champions League Full Time Scores on Match Day 2
Tuesday, September 29
Arsenal 2-3 Olympiakos
FC Porto 2-1 Chelsea
BATE Borisov 3-2 Roma
Barcelona 2-1 Bayer Leverkusen
Bay Munich 5-0 Dinamo Zagreb
Lyon 0-1 Valencia
Mac Tel Avi 0-2 Dynamo Kiev
Zenit 2-1 AA Gent
