Cardiff City scored their first league goals of the season but Arsenal took the points as Alexandre Lacazette struck a superb late winner to secure a 3-2 victory in a Premier League thriller in south Wales on Sunday.
Harry Arter wasted a glorious chance to give Cardiff the lead in the opening minutes following a dreadful mistake by goalkeeper Petr Cech and shortly afterwards Arsenal went ahead when Shkodran Mustafi powered home a header from a corner.
Arsenal were dominating possession but when they carelessly gave the ball away just before halftime they were punished as Victor Camarasa got the better of Nacho Monreal before firing past Cech to spark joyous scenes.
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Arsenal restored their lead just past the hour mark when Mesut Ozil and Lacazette combined well to tee up Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to curl home from 20 yards but once again Cardiff responded with Danny Ward heading past Cech.
Lacazette sealed victory for Arsenal in the 81st minute when he was allowed to turn in the box by Sol Bamba before firing powerfully into the top corner from a tight angle.
"I enjoyed the win, in the 90 minutes it was difficult. I think we controlled the match," Arsenal manager Unai Emery said.
"One goal for Lacazette, one for Aubameyang, but I think every other player worked well with commitment we want. We are happy for that and we are evolving."
Emery also defended keeper Cech whose distribution was again found wanting, passing the ball straight to Arter in the opening minutes of the game.
"Petr has a big personality, experience which is what we want. We will continue working on controlling the ball, the build-up play with centre-backs," he said.
"He is also very intelligent when we needed a long ball to find the action more in the attacking third he did that."
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Toby Davis and Ed Osmond)
