A slick passing Arsenal found the clinical touch they’ve been lacking up front on Tuesday night with a dominating 2-0 home win against a Borrusia Dortmund side struggling domestically. 

Yaya Sanogo put paid to his Sanogoals nickname with a his first competitive goal in red and white after just two minutes. A neat back-heel and one-two with Spaniard Santi Cazorla saw Sanogo free to slip the ball coolly through the legs of Dortmund number one Roman Weidenfeller. 

Alexis Sanchez sealed the deal for the Gunners with a sumptuous curling strike from 20 yards after cutting in neatly from the left 12 minutes after the break. 

Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal have had a torrid week after suffering back to back losses in the league since throwing away a three goal lead to draw against Belgium outfit Anderlecht. 

With fit-again Olivier Giroud ineligible to play after being left out of the Champions League squad — having been expected to be out injured until January — and Danny Welbeck out with a knock, Wenger was left with few experienced options up front. 

However, his controversial decision to start with young Sanogo ahead of German international Lukas Podolski paid off as the Frenchman put in a committed confident performance after his early goal. 

Juergen Klopp’s Bundesliga troubles, that see them sitting third from bottom in the table, finally seemed to catch up with them in Europe.  

Lukasz Piszczek and Nevan Subotic struggled to contain the skill and drive of Sanchez and the Germans only really troubled young stand-in keeper Emilio Martinez once, who coped well on his senior debut. 

After the game, Wenger praised the team for learning from the mistakes of their defeat to Manchester United: “We were more under pressure because on Saturday we played well but maybe we were victims of our generous attitude going forward.”

But after securing participation in the second stage for the 15th consecutive season, Wenger was left ruing injuries and the dropped points against Anderlecht that would have seen them in control of the group and avoiding the tough hand they have been dealt in recent years. 

Klopp gave a simple assessment of Dortmund’s performance: “We just weren’t good enough.” However a win in their final group game will secure top spot.