Arsenal hold on

Two matches, six points; on the surface Arsene Wenger's team seem to have found their foot in Europe this season. The North London club remain all-conquoring and top the Group B standings at this early stage of the competition.

But like their last-gasp win against Thun a fortnight ago, the Gunners' performance on Tuesday night was far from convincing. Granted, it was a whole lot better, but they still lacked the killer instinct of Thierry Henry and the midfield gusto of Patrick Vieira.

With Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Robin van Persie unavailable, Arsene Wenger opted to push Freddie Ljungberg up-front alongside Spaniard Jose Antonio Reyes.

The new-look partnership reaped instant rewards: after Mathieu Flamini's timely interception in the centre circle, Reyes took on the Ajax defence before releasing Ljungberg with a precise through ball in the second minute.

But the Swede's clinical lob over the advancing Hans Volk did not usher in a rout for the Gunners, and the game remained evenly matched for the rest of the half, with both young and inexperienced teams creating very little chances.

Sol Cambell was influential in Arsenal's defence, making superb sliding interceptions to deny Nourdin Boukhari, in the first half, and substitute Marcus Rosenberg in the second.

South African Steven Pienaar should have levelled things just before the break after Boukhari lured both Almunia and Toure astray before setting up his team-mate. But with the goal gaping and only a retreating Campbell to beat, the youngster side-footed high.

Almunia was on better form after the break when he saved excellently to deflect a Ryan Babel drive from outside the box on 52 minutes.

Minutes later, a nasty clash of heads between Toure and Greek striker Angelos Charisteas saw both players go off for treatment. The Ivory Coast defender returned with a bandage, but the Euro 2004 golden boot needed to go to hospital for stictches to a gushing wound around his eye socket.

Once the game restarted, Volk gave Arsenal the opportunity to double their lead after he brought down Reyes in the 68th minute. Robert Pires duly stepped up and despatched the spot-kick to double Arsenal's lead, but it was a flattering one.

After the match, Danny Blind cast doubt on Arsenal's penalty.

"I had doubts about the second Arsenal goal and when I saw the TV pictures it was clear that it wasn't a penalty," he said.

"Beforehand I named Arsenal favourites in this group and now we will have to battle with Thun and Prague for second spot.

"It would have been very important for my team to take a point out of this match. We had no chance to win but a draw was possible."

The Gunners were kept napping straight after the restart when Ajax captain Tomas Galasek found space on the right and, spotting Almunia out of position, cracked in a powerful drive. The Spanish keeper, deputising for the suspended Jens Lehmann, was beaten but the ball cannonned off the post. Luckily for Ajax, substitute Rosenborg was there to tap in the rebound.

Rosenborg might have added another were it not for Campbell's timely intervention. The cutting of the deficit made for a tense last twenty minutes for Arsenal, but they held on to secure their second successive 2-1 win in the Champions League.

"This is good for the confidence of the team especially because we missed several offensive players and still scored two goals away from home," said Wenger.

"The experience of Pires and Ljungberg was important because just like Ajax we played with a young team tonight. That is why I started with Pires even though he was not completely fit."

FC Thun pulled off a stunning Champions League victory on Tuesday after beating Czech champions Sparta Prague with an 88th minute goal.

Defender-turned-midfielder Selver Hodzic latched onto a Leandro pass with two minutes remaining to secure the unfancied Swiss side their first ever Champions League points after narrowly losing their opening Group B match 2-1 to Arsenal two weeks ago.

Thun had looked more than equal to Sparta throughout Tuesday's match but seemed set for disappointment after failing to capitalise on a string of first half chances.

The result is likely to heap further pressure on Sparta coach Jaroslav Hrebik who has already faced strong criticism from the club's supporters following a poor start to the season.