They hosted a Lille side that has had a remarkable start to their domestic campaign, sitting second in Ligue 1 behind Monaco.
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Four changes for Arsenal
In last season's Europa League, the French outfit won two and lost four of their away games, so they were going to find it tough against Mikel Arteta's Gunners, who came into the match on the back of a nine-game unbeaten home run in all competitions (W8, D1).
Arteta must've fancied his chances of a victory in what was a first-ever UCL meeting against Lille, as he brought in Jurrien Timber, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Bruno Guimaraes and Noni Madueke at the expense of captain Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Ben White, and the injured Piero Hincapie.
As expected, the Gunners took the game to their opponents, with 50% of the early action taking place in the Lille defensive third of the pitch.
Guimaraes and Mikel Merino both had two efforts either blocked or saved, as Arsenal looked to make light work of the French side, who could only offer two blocked efforts of their own, from on-loan Dilane Bakwa and ex-Tottenham man Nabil Bentaleb.
Great individual performance from Alexsandro
Alexsandro was certainly being kept on his toes, but to the 27-year-old's credit, he was more than up to the task.
Of the eight one-on-ones he contested on the night, six were successful, as were three of his four aerial duels. The winning back of possession on three occasions, as well as three interceptions, 50% of his tackles won and a 90.6% pass completion, all pointed to a decent individual performance.
One player with a point to prove, Madueke, was certainly a thorn in Lille's side in a first half where the visitors couldn't manage a shot on target.
Much has been made of Madueke's lack of minutes so far this season, but the England international certainly grabbed his opportunity with both hands, attempting five crosses in the first 35 minutes alone, more than any other player from either side.
Disappointing Gyokeres
Teammate Viktor Gyokeres continued to disappoint, however, and the Swedish international had only seven touches in the first half.
By the time he was subbed off - again - by Arteta in the 65th minute, he'd only touched the ball 13 times, and had a solitary touch in the Lille box.
That's hardly the sort of form that you want to see from your main striker, and it strengthens the notion that he could well be on his way out of the club at the earliest possible opportunity.
With 76% possession in the quarter hour directly after half-time, it was only a matter of time before Arsenal took the lead and, sure enough, Timber fired home from inside the box in the 64th minute, after Madueke's 10th cross of the night picked him out.
Sensational Saka
It would be the latter's last action of the game, as, along with Gyokeres and Merino, he made way for Kai Havertz, Odegaard and Saka.
Within two minutes, Saka had set up Eberechi Eze to make the game safe, and only four minutes after that, Saka himself got on the scoresheet.
To give some perspective on the England man's cameo performance, he had more total touches and made more accurate passes in 25 minutes than Gyokeres had managed in the previous 65.
Belatedly, Lille had begun to put a small amount of pressure on the hosts, just not in the right areas.
Lille's physical dominance
For example, though Gabriel Magalhaes had to contest 13 one-on-ones, he could only win three, and such lethargy in his work really should've been punished.
Just three touches in the Arsenal box and no shots on target from the visitors - the first time in the UCL since facing Bayern Munich in October 2012 - told their own story.
Maxima Goffi's late yellow card was born of frustration that he and his teammates were unable to make any headway whatsoever in this match.
What's odd is that the visitors were more successful in the one-on-ones, both on the ground and aerially, than their hosts, but couldn't convert that physical dominance into something approaching a coherent attacking performance.
Ultimately, Arsenal didn't have to work that hard for the three points, and that has to be the most disappointing aspect for Davide Ancelotti and his squad.
Catch up on the match with Flashscore.
Jason Pettigrove has been the features writer for Flashscore since 2025, utilising Opta data to form the basis of his articles. He has previously worked for high-profile football clubs, news and media outlets, both in print and digital, and can usually be found watching FC Barcelona when time permits. You can read more of his pieces here.
