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Arsenal suffered their second successive Champions League defeat
They crashed to a home defeat against Olympiacos at the Emirates
Arsenal are in real danger of slipping into the Europa League
Here, Sportsmail’s Neil Ashton reveals the five things he learned

Published: 15:38 EST, 29 September 2015 | Updated: 04:17 EST, 30 September 2015

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Olympiacos inflicted defeat on Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night – with a large amount of the blame falling at the feet of goalkeeper David Ospina.

It was Arsenal's second successive Champions League defeat and Arsene Wenger's side are in danger of slipping out of the tournament and into the Europa League.

Here, Sportsmail’s Neil Ashton reveals the five things he learned from Arsenal’s dismal performance in north London.

Arsenal are in danger of crashing out of the Champions League and slipping into the Europa League

THURSDAY NIGHTS... CHANNEL FIVE?

That is the terrifying prospect for this Arsenal team after losing their opening two group games against Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiacos.

Next up at the Emirates in the Champions League is Bayern Munich - who beat Dinamo 5-0 at the Allianz Arena last night - at the Emirates on October 20 before travelling to Germany two weeks later.

Arsene Wenger was in a particularly grumpy mood after this defeat and his job now is to lift the players before they face Manchester United on Sunday at the Emirates.

Bizarrely Arsenal’s manager blamed the club’s fixture schedule for this defeat, claiming their trips to Zagreb, Chelsea, Tottenham and Leicester were a contributory factor to this performance.

The only person who believes that is Wenger.

EVERY SECOND COUNTS...

Arsenal's defending was chaotic, summed up by the 59 seconds between Alexis Sanchez’s second half strike and substitute Alfred Finnbogason scoring Olympiacos’ third goal.

They sat off the Greek champions, defending so deep that at times they were lined up just in front of their keeper David Ospina. It was amateurish.

Icelandic striker Alfreo Finnbogason kicks over the corner flag as he celebrates scoring a late winner

When Laurent Koscielny succumbed to injury in the second half, Wenger has little choice but to turn to the experienced figure of Per Mertesacker to replace him from the bench.

It is incredible to think that Wenger named four defenders as substitutes, leaving him little option to attack other than Aaron Ramsey. That will take some explaining.

Aaron Ramsey was left on the bench by Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger for the Champions League clash

HISTORY LESSON

When the Champions League final is played in Milan on June 1 2016, it will be ten years since Arsenal were beaten by Barcelona in the final at the Stade de France.

Back then they cruised through the group stages with one of the most powerful, impressive teams in European football before they went on to beat Real Madrid, Juventus and Villarreal on their way to the final.

David Ospina is consoled by Arsenal team-mate Francis Coquelin on Tuesday night following horror show

They had a real team then - with Jens Lehmann, Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole, Cesc Fabregas, and the outstanding Thierry Henry - ranked among the best players in European football.

In like for like positions Arsenal have David Ospina, Kieran Gibbs, Santi Cazorla and Theo Walcott.

Even with Walcott’s excellent run of form in front of goal, that group of player is not in the same class as the 2006 team.

The only person who cannot see that, of course, is Arsene Wenger.

Manager Wenger needs to understand that his current squad just doesn't compare to the squad of 2006

FORTRESS EMIRATES?

Arsenal have now lost six of their last 12 games in the Champions League at the Emirates. It is a terrifying statistic.

Last season’s abject 3-1 defeat against Monaco on home soil was supposed to be a one off, but Arsenal have the jitters when it comes to playing in front of their own fans.

Arsenal's recent home form is poor - both in the Premier League and in European competitions

Quite why is a mystery because the supporters were on their side throughout this appalling, chaotic defeat against the Greek champions.

Arsenal’s home form in the Barclays Premier League is patchy as well, with a surprise 2-0 defeat at home to West Ham on the opening day, followed by a 0-0 draw against Liverpool, adding to their troubles.

THEO WALCOTT

The only player who can be properly exonerated from this shambolic defeat is their forward, Theo Walcott. The guy is on fire.

Walcott has now scored 17 goals in his last 21 starts, which is powerful ammunition when it comes to team selection for Sunday’s clash with Manchester United at the Emirates.

Theo Walcott celebrates after continuing his impressive recent goalscoring run against Olympiacos

It can only be a matter of time before opposition defences wise up to the timed run that continues to elude careless centre halves, but his first half equaliser was a quality finish.

This was another decent showing, with his clever cross setting up Alexis for the equaliser at 2-2. Good on him for that.