Eduardo and Bendtner save the day for Arsenal

Standard Liege 2 Arsenal 3. After five minutes of last night's pulsating encounter at Stade Maurice Dufrasnes, Arsenal looked dead and buried as they trailed the hosts Standard Liege by two goals, one of which was the softest of penalties for the Belgian champions.

For Gunners' third-choice keeper the 21-year-old Italian Vito Mannone, it was a nightmarish start, and with Robin van Persie, Andrei Arshavin and Theo Walcott also missing from the starting line-up, the prospects of a Champions League upset were very real. Following on from the two consecutive Premier League losses at Manchester United and Manchester City, Arsenal's season looked distinctly stillborn.

But slowly, after Eliaquim Mangala's opener and Milan Jovanovic's spot kick, the Gunners began to find their rhythm. Nicklas Bendter was deployed as the lone centre forward, with the returning Eduardo - only appearing because Uefa had rescinded a two-match ban on him for diving against Celtic in the play-off stage - playing off him. After dominating possession for the rest of the first half, the impressive Bendter marked his hundredth club appearance with a goal on the stroke of half time, shooting through the goalkeeper Sinan Bolat's legs.

Both sides emerged for the second half apparently having been told to attack at all costs and the match could have swung either way as Liege caused the Arsenal defence some moments of panic. But the visitors drew level on 78 minutes, when a Cesc Fabregas free kick came back off a suspiciously placed Alex Song for Thomas Vermaelen's first goal for the team.

The winner came, almost inevitably, from the man who would have missed the tie save for Uefa's late intervention. With just nine minutes to go, another Fabregas delivery from a dead ball, this time a corner, found the Croatian striker for him to bundle home from close range.

"It is always inevitable with Eduardo," Wenger told journalists afterwards. "He knows and you know that he can always turn up on the end of crosses because he has that anticipation. When you're a big club, you cannot afford defeats on the trot. It was important that we responded after losing to Manchester United and City. This can strengthen our belief. When you are 2–0 down away in Europe, you know that it's going to be tough. We needed something special." ·