Arsenal keep battling to take the points after having lost two goals at Highbury Keown hits late double as Gunners earn points

defender Martin Keown snatched two goals in the last five minutes of an extraordinary Champions League clash at Highbury to salvage what had looked like becoming another European horror-night for Arsenal.

The Gunners were struck by two hammer blows within three minutes when Alexey Bakharev fired a free-kick which took a deflection to confound England goalkeeper David Seaman, and then Andrii Vorobyey finished off a slick move that cut open the Gunners' defence.

A rash of fouls by the Ukrainians ended with Sergei Popov being sent off. Then in added time in the opening half, Sylvain Wiltord slotted home after Thierry Henry's penalty was saved.

Then Keown saved the day in the closing stages.

Arsenal could not turn possession into goals as their superiority over Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk failed to break the deadlock in the first 20 minutes.

A late flag decision denied Henry as he raced in behind the defence after Grimandi's forward lob. Then Virt showed bravery under fire, smothering the ball at Freddie Ljungberg's feet from Patrick Vieira's pass.

It was all Arsenal in the opening 10 minutes, with Henry and Pires also testing Virt.

Popov was shown a yellow card for a crude block on Vieira.

The same player then risked a red when he hauled down Vieira from behind moments later.

Shakhtar finally managed a shot at goal when Hennadii Zubov stuck out a foot to beat Martin Keown at the edge of the Arsenal area, but the ball flew wide of David Seaman's goal.

Shakthar escaped yet again when Vieira slipped Ljungberg clear in 19 minutes, Virt again thwarting a clear-cut opportunity on the Swede's left foot.

It looked like trouble for Arsenal, who were without captain Tony Adams, when centre-back Keown was carried off, sitting upright, on a stretcher in 23 minutes following a heavy fall in the Shakhtar goalmouth.

However, he was soon back in action to see Henry curl a wicked free kick from 25 yards out which beat Virt but also the crossbar.

Seconds later, though, Shakhtar took the lead after 26 minutes against the run of play with a free kick after a foul by Arsenal's Oleg Luzhny. Alexey Bakharev's effort from 25 yards took a deflection off Pires to leave Seaman standing as it flew into the opposite corner to which he was about to move.

Then Shakhtar went two goals up two minutes later when Vlacheslav Shevchuk's ball in caught Keown out of position, and Sergei Atelkin laid it off for Andrii Vorobei to slip the ball past Seaman and inside the far post.

This was Vorobei's twelfth goal this season.

Highbury was completely stunned but Arsenal, having been so dominant, had only themselves to blame.

It could have become even worse because 11 minutes from the break, Seaman had to make a full-stretch dive to keep out Zubov's shot.

There was more disruption when the luckless Pires had to hobble off, seemingly with a pulled hamstring.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger went for broke by sending on #13m Sylvain Wiltord as substitute.

Arsenal's frenetic attempts at reprisal were slowed down by play-acting in the Shakhtar defence, with first, Dalnius Gleveckas and then keeper Virt collapsing in theatrical agony after straightforward challenges by Henry.

Finally, referee Strampe could tolerate no more and sent off Popov for his second bookable offence, crudely blocking Vieira's run.

Arsenal's frustration continued when Keown was booked for dissent, and Shakhtar picked up a third yellow card when Anatoli Tymoschuk fouled Vieira.

Then, deep in first-half stoppage time, Arsenal were handed a lifeline when Myhkaloh Staro-styak pulled down Wiltord in the area.

Even then, Virt managed to beat out Henry's penalty shot, but Wiltord followed up to net the rebound.

Facing 10 men for the second half, Arsenal probably expected to salvage the match, but the first threat after the break came from Shakhtar, when Silvinho's foul on Atelkin followed another mistake by Keown.

Atelkin's first shot was blocked and his second hammered away by Luzhny, but the Gunners looked far from convincing. However, they should have equalised in 50 minutes when Kanu, fed by Ljungberg, dribbled his way past three challenges, but he then shot wide.

Within a minute Silvinho came raiding down the left and found Henry unmarked with the cross. The striker had his back to goal, and when he swivelled onto the chance, he knocked it wide.

Then Ljungberg opened up the way for Wiltord, who fired right-footed from an angle and saw Virt beat the ball away.

Shakhtar were under siege, with virtually every Arsenal player committed to attack, but Wiltord, a bundle of energy and zest, fired over when well-placed.

Dennis Bergkamp replaced Ljungberg with 23 minutes left, and the Dutchman's first contribution was a run on the right and a low cross which Virt could only push out to Kanu who, unbelievably, stabbed it straight back at him.

However, just when it appeared that it would not be Arsenal's night, Keown was in the right place at the right time to equalise, and then right on time, the big defender repeated his scoring trick.

In the other match in Group B played last night, a goal from Simone Inzaghi after 35 minutes put Lazio on the way to victory against Sparta Prague in Itlay.

Just after the break, Juan Veron made it two, then Inzaghi scored again to make the score 3-0, maintaining the Italian team's 100% record in the tournament