after exchanging goals before half-time, lukas podolski's 56th-minute strike set the gunners on course for the home win arsène wenger demanded.
arsenal fc recovered from a slow start to take control of their home meeting with olympiacos fc and uefa champions league group b.
after a disjointed opening 42 minutes a moment of individual brilliance from gervinho put the gunners in front, only for kostas mitroglou to head in the equaliser before half-time. ıt proved only a temporary setback, however, and the second period brought an improved performance that had its reward in goals from lukas podolski and substitute aaron ramsey.
ramsey's adroit chip in the final moments was a world away from the early stages, when a mix-up between vito mannone and thomas vermaelen presented olympiacos with an early chance. david fuster swooped on the loose ball, but the home defence scrambled back to clear at the expense of a corner. the hosts did not let the early uncertainty affect them and santi cazorla went close when he forced balázs megyeri to tip his whipped free-kick over the bar.
the greek side began to cause problems for the arsenal defence. paulo machado crossed for mitroglou but his header was comfortably held by mannone. the pair combined again, but mannone got down to stop mitroglou's low shot. machado then twice went close himself. first he scooped giannis maniatis' cross over the bar from close range, then hit a free-kick straight at mannone.
with half-time approaching gervinho gave arsenal the lead, unleashing a low shot from the edge of the area after podolski's cross had caused confusion between kostas manolas and pablo contreras and run free to the ıvorian. olympiacos were level at the break though, mitroglou rising between vermaelen and laurent koscielny to head leandro greco's cross into the corner of the net.
arsenal had the first chance of the second half, but cazorla was unable to capitalise on gervinho's cut-back and shot wide. a similar ball into the danger area then picked out podolski and he spun and shot through two defenders and the goalkeeper to find the net.
koscielny headed over the bar from close range having met mikel arteta's free-kick. olivier giroud then came off the bench and twice went close to scoring, but was stopped by desperate olympiacos defending. he did he set up the third goal, though, as ramsey ran onto his long pass and calmly chipped megyeri to wrap up victory.
