The strength in depth that Arsenal have attained after their £250million summer spending spree has been widely advanced as a reason why this will be the season they will smash through the glass ceiling they have been hammering against in vain for the past few years.
But a deep squad and the sight of a bench groaning under the weight of superstar players such as Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze only counts for something if the replacements have the talent and the experience to get the job done.
There were times against Olympiacos on Wednesday night when Arsenal trod a fine line between those two outcomes. They should have won this Champions League tie at a canter but an epidemic of missed chances meant that they were sweating on a slender lead almost until the bitter end.
Nervously, wracked with tension, clinging on to a 1-0 lead, their fans yelling out their displeasure, Arsenal crawled over the line to add a second victory to their 2-0 win over Athletic Club in Bilbao a fortnight ago that opened their Champions League campaign.
A second goal, from Saka, in added time, added gloss to a scoreline that did not reflect the angst that had preceded it.
If Evangelos Marinakis, the shipping tycoon who owns the Greek champions, was looking for some succour in the midst of his worries about his second club, Nottingham Forest, he did not quite find it here, although he may wish that Forest could show some of the application Olympiacos did against Arsenal.
Bukayo Saka wrapped up a 2-0 victory for Arsenal over Olympiacos in the Champions League
Gabriel Martinelli had given the Gunners the lead in the first half after tapping home from close range
It was a measure of the strength of the modern Arsenal that Arteta could afford to leave Rice, Saka, Eze and Riccardo Calafiori on the bench and still field a formidable starting eleven.
Many would argue, in fact, that the inclusion of Myles Lewis-Skelly at left-back represented a strengthening of the side, not a weakening. There is a case for saying his best position is as a holding midfielder but wherever he plays, he has the talent to be a fixture here for a decade.
Arsenal should have been ahead inside two minutes. Lewis-Skelly burst forward from defence and was allowed to run and run by the Olympiacos back-line. He delivered a perfect cross for Gabriel Martinelli but Martinelli headed wide with the goal at his mercy.
It did not take long for Martinelli to atone for his error. Ten minutes after the miss, Martin Odegaard, who had made a majestic start at the fulcrum of the team, played a through ball to Viktor Gyokeres.
Gyokeres was flanked by two Olympiacos defenders but he muscled them aside and rifled in a shot which Kostas Tzolakis pushed on to the post. Martinelli read the rebound perfectly and tapped the loose ball into the net.
Midway through the half, and very much against the run of play, Olympiacos nearly forced an equaliser. Chiquinho crossed from the right and Daniel Podence met it sweetly on the volley 10 yards out.
Raya’s reactions were lightning quick. He flung himself to his left and tipped the ball over the bar. It may only be October but it will endure as one of the saves of the season.
Arsenal missed another golden opportunity to score just before half an hour had elapsed with Gyokeres raced on to a sumptuous through ball from Odegaard. Martinelli was unmarked in the middle and screaming for the ball but Gyokeres went it alone and he was thwarted by some fine defending from Francisco Ortega, who blocked his shot.
The Greek side had threatened an equaliser before substitute Saka sealed the win for Arsenal
David Raya was called into action on several occasions in the second half but the hosts held firm
Victory for Mikel Arteta’s men ensured they continued their 100 per cent start to their Champions League campaign
Arsenal missed more chances. Gyokeres made room for himself and shot too high when, once again, Martinelli was entitled to feel aggrieved at being ignored when free in the middle, and Leandro Trossard curled a good chance beyond the far post.
The beginning of a feeling of apprehension about the prospect of Olympiacos equalising was acknowledged when Arteta called for the cavalry and brought Rice and Jurrien Timber off the bench early in the second half.
Another chance slipped away when Trossard was played in on goal by Odegaard. Trossard stepped inside Panagiotis Retsos but as he tried to curl a shot past Tzolakis, Tzolakis flung himself at the ball and pushed it away.
Arsenal nearly paid the price for their profligacy when Ayoub El Kaabi, the Olympiacos Moroccan centre forward, glanced a header at Raya that Raya parried straight back into his path. El Kaabi prodded the ball back past him but the visitors were denied by a linesman’s flag that showed the striker had strayed marginally offside.
The mood inside The Emirates began to turn. Frustration mixed with exasperation and fretfulness as Arsenal struggled to get the second goal they needed to make safe what should have been a routine victory.
Suddenly, they were hanging on to their lead, rather than looking to extend it. Arteta turned to the bench again and brought on Saka and Eze in an attempt to hold off the Olympiacos resurgence. Saka was given a particularly rapturous reception.
There was also a worrying sight for Arsenal when Gabriel, their defensive lynchpin, limped off 15 minutes from time with what looked like a muscle injury. He was replaced by Cristian Mosquera.
There was still time for yet another Arsenal miss. Saka twisted and turned his defender on the Arsenal right and pulled the ball back for Odegaard but Odegaard’s first shot was saved by Tsolakis and his follow-up was deflected wide by Retsos.
On the bench, Arteta held his head in his hands but Arsenal’s nerves disappeared when Saka forced his late shot past Tzolakis.
