Maybe there is something about this Arsenal team after all.
Despite their splendid start to the Barclays Premier League campaign, there remains plenty of scepticism about the resolve of Arsene Wenger's side but this stunning victory has surely convinced a few of the critics. It has also revived a Champions League campaign that seemed stymied by Borussia Dortmund's win in London two weeks ago.
Aaron Ramsey was Arsenal's scorer once again, his brave second-half header at the imposing Westfalenstadion enough to earn the points and deny Dortmund an eighth successive home win in the competition. Juergen Klopp's well-drilled side dominated for long spells, but were punished for their profligacy when Ramsey was first on to a knockdown from Olivier Giroud just after the hour.
It may not have been the flowing display which Wenger would have preferred, but Arsenal answered questions with a display of real character to defeat to last season's beaten finalists. With Napoli beating Marseille, they still have work to do to secure safe passage to the knockout stages, but they will have gained more belief they can last the distance. "We kept our shape really well, we were patient and it was a proper away performance from the lads and we got them on the counter-attack," Ramsey said.
Arsenal had come into the tie five points clear at the top of their domestic league and unbeaten in 14 away ties in all competitions since they beat Bayern Munich in March. Dortmund, though, dominated the first half and were left counting the cost of not making the most of that spell in control. Henrikh Mkhitaryan missed the most glaring chance when he shot wide from the edge of the penalty area after Arsenal were carved open down the right.
Goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny saved well from Jakub Blaszczykowski following the restart, before Ramsey secured what proved to be the winner just after the hour for his 11th goal of the season.
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