Arsenal show fighting spirit but lack firepower against Marseille

Arsenal's Park Ju-young, left, and Marseille's André Ayew leap for the same ball. Photograph: Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images

Arsenal's euphoria was short-lived. Marseille removed the joy from a side that had lately beaten Chelsea 5-3. While a draw was hardly a shameful outcome, the result allows the reservations to surface once more. In retrospect, it would have been wiser to let Robin van Persie start, instead of sending him on from the bench when the search for a goal had become anxious.

The side remain at the head of their Champions League group, with the next match at home to Borussia Dortmund, who have taken their first win by beating Olympiakos. Arsenal's situation in the competition continues to be encouraging but the line-up preferred by Arsène Wenger could not sustain the club's recent momentum.

There was not even the questionable comfort that managers sometimes claim to feel when opportunities are created and then wasted. That sort of exasperation was rare. Instead onlookers will have found confirmation that far too much rests with Van Persie. Other attackers were lively enough in their own fashion yet did not suggest that they were going to confound the Marseille goalkeeper.

Although Thomas Vermaelen tried to turn in a header from Per Mertesacker and was denied by Steve Mandanda at the start of the second-half, there was no onslaught. Nothing is meant to be simple in this tournament. The crowd tensed and anticipated that Van Persie was about to break the deadlock, having been put through by fellow substitute Tomas Rosicky, but he lifted his shot into the goalkeeper's arms.

Van Persie would probably have made a greater impact if he had started the match and then been rested through an early substitution. These are early days but Park Chu-young mostly proved that he is not to be taken yet as any sort of alternative to him.

Perhaps, all the same, it ought to have been anticipated that the opposition would shed the blandness that afflicted them at the Stade Vélodrome. At this stage in a Champions League group urgency is on the rise. Marseille, beaten at home by Wenger's men, were bound to display an attacking spirit.

The tempo was high from kick-off, as if there were not a moment to lose. Didier Deschamps's decision to put two forwards in the Marseille line-up verged on a romantic gesture. There were openings before the interval but not the need for many impressive saves. That was down to indifferent finishing. Gervinho was full of intent and menace, yet neither he nor any of his team-mates could find the precision needed in a promising situation.

Deschamps's men also made Arsenal worry at times and thus prevented the hosts from achieving slick and carefree football. Marseille had opened with a show of conviction. Loïc Rémy was close to flicking home a ball from André Ayew in the first minute.

The outlook and style of Deschamps's side had been transformed since the earlier meeting, but the inconsequentiality of their work when the moment had come to shoot or to attempt a menacing pass was still on view. While Arsenal had less to concern them in this eventual stalemate they should still have been in hot pursuit of a win that would sustain the rise in the expectations of the squad and the players alike.

While Van Persie sat on the bench there was a reminder that there is no real replacement to the Dutchman. It is odd that the Champions League can be treated as a moment of respite for such an attacker since, in principle, it should have a greater concentration of elite footballers than a domestic tournament, but that is not how it appears.

It is likely that Wenger will once more guide his men beyond the group phase. He will have been heartened by the recent return, for instance, of Thomas Vermaelen. The centre-half continues to be the key to efficient defending. That stress on his value underlines a relative lack of depth in the squad.

In some respects, Wenger's challenge never alters. He may have more money than many managers but that does not allow him to pay the prices some of the elite clubs meet with scarcely a thought. The dependence on Van Persie is a consequence of the circumstances at Arsenal.

Regardless of that, no fan of the club can have departed in despair. It is uncanny that the advance to the knockout stage should virtually be taken for granted. Marseille themselves are not to be treated lightly yet the prospects remain good that Arsenal will win this group.