Eduardo haunts Arsenal in Champions League

The Gunners led early through Theo Walcott's sizzling opener, but they fell behind by the break due to a Craig Eastmond own goal and a further strike from former favourite Eduardo. The result leaves Arsenal level on nine points with Shakhtar, three ahead of Braga, who host Arsenal in their next fixture.

Arsene Wenger made seven changes to his side following the weekend win over West Ham, with Cesc Fabregas, Andrei Arshavin, Denilson and Alex Song all missing through injuries picked up at Emirates Stadium. As a result, Eastmond was handed a Champions League debut alongside Jack Wilshere in midfield.

It was Wilshere who made the first telling impact of the game as he released Walcott on the counter attack inside the opening ten minutes. Walcott had 70 yards of turf in front of him, but he showed blistering pace to close in on goal, displaying a mirror image of Thierry Henry as he slotted the ball into the net.

The goal arrived after Samir Nasri had earlier clipped a post, but Arsenal failed to build on their advantage as the unfortunate Eastmond cancelled out Walcott's effort on 28 minutes. Dmytro Chygrynskiy sent a header goalwards for the home side, and Eastmond's attempts to block only succeeded in sending the ball past Lukasz Fabianski.

Shakhtar have only lost one of 28 games at their new Donbass Stadium, and that was their first game in their new home, and by half time they had turned the contest on its head. Predictably for Gunners fans, it was Eduardo who displayed trademark calmness to punish Gael Clichy's error, but the Croatia international respectfully refused to celebrate his winner in front of his former fans.

Braga remain in the mix for qualification in Group H after they came away from FK Partizan with a 1-0 victory. Brazilian defender Moises scored the game's only goal.

Chelsea maintained their 100 percent record in the competition, beating Spartak Moscow 4-1 to book their place in the Champions League knockout stages. Carlo Ancelotti left John Terry on the bench as the Blues kept one eye on the weekend trip to Liverpool, but Brazilian midfielder Ramires returned to the starting line-up to support Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka in attack.

Chelsea initially lacked fluency against their Russian counterparts, keeping less possession than their visitors in a frustrating first half that really produced very few chances to speak of. That changed within five second-half minutes though, with Anelka timing his run to perfection to break the offside trap, before finding a way to beat the goalkeeper from what appeared to be an impossible angle.

Drogba then won and scored a penalty to double the advantage, before Branislav Ivanovic added a brace to his weekend goal at Blackburn. Spartak registered a late consolation, but the game was already wrapped up by the time Nikita Bazhenov struck.

Marseille are back in the fight for second spot in Group F after they hammered Zilina 7-0 at Pod Dubnon. The result lifts Marseille level with Spartak on six points, and their victory margin was one shy of Liverpool's record 8-0 win over Besiktas.

Elsewhere, Jose Mourinho avoided a painful first return to the San Siro since leaving Inter Milan in the summer, snatching a late 2-2 draw with AC Milan as boss of new club Real Madrid. The Spanish giants equalised in injury time, but a draw is enough to book their place in the knockout stages.

Mourinho's side enjoyed much the better of the first half, twice seeing the ball cleared from the line before Gonzalo Higuain showed superb feet to net Madrid's 700th goal in European Cup competition.

Unfortunately Cristiano Ronaldo spoiled matters with a shameful bout of playacting, and Madrid were pegged back when 37-year-old Filippo Inzaghi scored his 124th Milan goal to move level with Marco Van Basten. The Italy international was not finished there though, adding a predatory second to seemingly inflict a first defeat on Mourinho, but Pedro Leon scored in injury time to rescue Madrid.

Milan now face a fight for second place after Auxerre beat Ajax 2-1 in the group's other fixture.

And in Group E, Bayern Munich were thankful to a hat-trick from Mario Gomez as they enjoyed an easy 4-0 win over Cluj. The result sends Bayern into the knockout stages, with Roma favourites for second after they defeated Basel 3-2 in Switzerland.

Source: espn.co.uk