Mariona Caldentey’s 93rd-minute penalty delivered a win and a hefty dose of relief to fans bouncing behind the goal in the North Bank after the ball hit the back of the net, but ­Arsenal’s narrow defeat of HB Køge in their Champions League opener left more questions unanswered than answered for the struggling Gunners.

The puffed cheeks of the manager, Renée Slegers, said it all when the full-time whistle went. If it had been revealed after the final whistle that a force field surrounded the opposition goal at Meadow Park, many would have believed it, such was the extent of Arsenal’s ridiculous profligacy in front of goal in their league-phase opener.