Arsenal

Arsenal suffered a terrible night in the Champions League as star player Bukayo Saka hobbled off with an injury during their defeat in Lens.

Bad weather grounded Mikel Arteta and his players at Luton Airport for around five hours on Monday as their trip to France was impacted by delays.

And after a frustrating night, their hopes of avoiding a tough ride in qualifying for the knockout stages suffered a setback after Lens battled back from behind to record a 2-1 win at a rocking Stade Bollaert-Delelis.

Gabriel Jesus thought he had given the Gunners lift-off when he broke the deadlock with his 22nd Champions League goal.

However, hopes of an easy night veered off course as an error from goalkeeper David Raya led to Adrien Thomasson levelling before Saka limped off hurt for the third time in nine days.

Elye Wahi then hit the winner with 20 minutes to go to open up Group B as Arsenal now face a tricky trip to Europa League holders Sevilla later in the month.

This was a first home Champions League game in 21 years for Lens and their fans were not going to miss the opportunity to enjoy the occasion.

A huge tifo, flares and a wall of sound greeted kick-off and their team certainly set about Arsenal in the opening exchanges, with Kevin Danso firing just wide after collecting a corner.

Despite the rapid start from the hosts, Arsenal struck first through Jesus’ tidy finish into the bottom corner after Saka had been gifted the ball by a sloppy backpass.

The noise inside the stadium remained despite Lens falling behind and the vociferous support were rewarded with an equaliser.

Raya, stood outside his box, looked to play a ball into midfield but the Arsenal goalkeeper’s pass was intercepted and moments later he was beaten by a fine curling