Arsenal vs. Olympiakos: Early Season Struggles Won't Keep Arsenal from Victory

The early season has not been especially kind to Arsenal. On and off of the field, they have created far more questions than they have provided answers.

Still, since losing 8-2 to Manchester United, the Gunners are 3-1-1. On Wednesday, they will continue their Champions League schedule with a match against Olympiakos.

Arsenal sits at 0-0-1 in group play, as they played Borussia Dortmund to a 1-1 draw on the road two weeks ago.

At the very least, Arsenal needs to manage a draw and a point against Olympiakos, who is 0-1-0 in Champions League play. But in reality, the Gunners should take this contest.

The Gunners have won their last two matches by a combined 6-1 margin. Robin van Persie buried two goals against the Bolton Wanderers.

Arsenal must continue to get him in the action, but they also can't afford to be one dimensional. The other four goals that have been scored in the last two matches have been scored by four different players.

That bodes well for the Gunners and their overall attack. If they are to make any noise in the Champions League, that will need to continue.

While Arsenal should win on Wednesday, Olympiakos is not a club that they can afford to overlook. For one, Arsenal is depleted with injuries right now. They will have to do some serious scrambling to fill the holes that their injured starters are leaving.

Olympiakos lost its Champions League opener to Marseille, but they are also 2-0-0 in Super League play. They are capable of scoring goals, just not always great at preventing them.

Their best chance in this match is to get an early lead and get Arsenal off of their game. The further this one goes either tied or with an Arsenal lead, the more likely Arsenal is to win in the end.

I don't know that the Gunners are good enough to guarantee that they will win. They have a lot of issues and uncertainty that needs to be dealt with.

But this is a match that they shouldn't have any serious problems with.

Prediction: Arsenal 3, Olympiakos 1