Wenger stunned by Gunners’ collapse

Champions League Group D

On a night when all the headlines should have been about Arsenal’s new talisman Alexis Sanchez and a place in the Champions League knockout stages, their porous, nervous defence are instead under scrutiny after Arsene Wenger’s side were horribly and embarrassingly taken apart by Anderlecht to throw away a three-goal lead and draw 3-3 at the Emirates.

Arsenal were in cruise control after an hour in this Group D fixture as Sanchez scored once and had a hand in two other goals — a penalty from Mikel Arteta and a fine strike from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. But somehow they contrived to undo all that good work with a nervy and chaotic defensive display in the latter stages that allowed a young Anderlecht side — led by two-goal Anthony Vanden Borre — to mount a remrkable comeback.