Aaron Ramsey has scored 13 goals already this season. That alone takes some explaining. This, his fifth in European competition, requires more understanding than most.

It wasn’t just against the run of play, but against all logic. Borussia Dortmund had been the best team on the night. Most observers make them among the finest teams in Europe. They won their previous Bundesliga game against mid-table Stuttgart 6-1. And before Ramsey’s intervention after 63 minutes, Arsenal had not created a single goalscoring chance of note in the Westfalenstadion. In the immediate aftermath, however, so great was Dortmund’s shock at going behind that Arsenal could have won by three or four.

It was a brilliant result and a performance that shows the growing maturity of Arsene Wenger’s side. Arsenal were subdued and unimpressive in the first-half, but kept the scores level, the way grown-ups do. They were resilient and soaked up Dortmund’s pressure — and then they pounced as the Germans tired, the hallmark of the best teams in Europe. One chance, one goal, three points.

We have seen it done to English teams often enough, and admired the continentals for their ruthlessness. Had the scoreline and the performances been transposed we would right now be eulogising on the subject of German efficiency. So this was Arsenal playing an imported game, and playing it to perfection.

They waited, intelligently, for the Germans to get sloppy and made them pay. When possession was needlessly surrendered on the outskirts of the penalty area, Arsenal reacted quicker and the ball was in Dortmund’s net. It is fair to say this was not the script envisaged by the luminous locals. A Dortmund goal had been, seemingly, a matter of time. For the lead to go to Arsenal silenced even the famous Yellow Wall. And Dortmund’s defence came tumbling down.

It was that man again, too. Ramsey in excelsis. Thirteen goals to his name in 21 appearances — including two for Wales — making him a central midfield force in the style of Frank Lampard at his prolific best. ‘An unbelievable engine from box to box,’ said Wenger. Now where have we heard that before? And this was Lampard-like in its eye for the main chance.

A Mesut Ozil chip, a simple header onwards by Olivier Giroud, and there was Ramsey, sharper than Neven Subotic in the heart of Dortmund’s back four to head the ball past goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller. It flopped, rather than flashed into the net, but no matter. Goals do not have to be great to count big — and this turned Champions League Group F on its head.

Dortmund were expected to win here, let’s face it. With Napoli a good thing against Marseille, Arsenal were slated to go into the fifth group game trailing the top teams by three points and in jeopardy. Now they lead the table — a second table — from Napoli, who play Dortmund next. Depending on the outcome there, Arsenal could make their visit to Naples in December an irrelevance. It would be one hell of an achievement, given a draw that produced winces on the day it was announced.

Dortmund had 15 goalscoring attempts to Arsenal’s four, but this tournament is about nothing if not taking chances and Wenger’s team are to be admired for their relative economy. Clearly, they rattled Dortmund and it is telling that all of Arsenal’s scoring opportunities came after Ramsey had given them the lead.

Dortmund no doubt feared they had blown it by then and left spaces as they threw bodies forward. Arsenal’s victory could have been all but confirmed minutes later when a cross from Ozil found, who else, but Ramsey in space in the penalty box. He brought the ball under control but Weidenfeller rushed out and saved with his legs. From the corner, Santi Cazorla whipped the ball in, Giroud met it and Nuri Sahin cleared off the line with Per Mertesacker almost converting in the resulting scramble.

Suddenly, Arsenal’s conservatives became marauders. A Cazorla free-kick eluded the Dortmund defence only for Mertesacker to send his header over the bar. As limited as the first-half display had been, the Premier League leaders were now in the ascendancy. Having let Dortmund make the play, Arsenal were finishing stronger. Yes, they had needed Wojciech Szczesny to keep them in the game at the start of the second-half, but good goalkeeping is part of any rope-a-dope plan, too.

In the first 45 minutes Dortmund were wasteful and Henrikh Mkhitaryan missed arguably the best chance of the game, but they had found their range once play restarted and a header from Marco Reus which Szczesny seemed to keep out in slow motion was evidence that Arsenal were going to have to be at their defensive best in this brief period. Sure enough, moments later Szczesny made the save of the night one on one from Jakub Blaszczykowski, before Reus got the ball into the net from an offside position

Dortmund’s final desperate measure came in the dying seconds of added time, when Robert Lewandowski got acrobatic in the penalty area, only to end up on the ground courtesy of Mertesacker. He claimed foul play, Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers was having none of it. The home crowd howled its displeasure, the final whistle blew instead and they slunk home chastened.

Arsenal have now beaten what many claim are the best two teams in Europe — Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund — away from home in the last calendar year, but this was the pick of those performances. The Munich match was a second leg in a tie that was as good as over; this game was very much live, even if neither side could be knocked out. Dortmund are vulnerable now, though — while Arsenal are providing answers to all those pesky questions about their ability to stay the course.

This was, after all, the week that was going to expose their flaws. Liverpool, Dortmund and, on Sunday, Manchester United. With two down, one to go, Arsenal have recorded back-to-back victories — with three goals scored, none conceded. Ramsey grabs the headlines, but the contribution of Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny cannot be underestimated. They were quite exceptional, again. Five points clear in the Premier League, setting the pace in Europe, this team demands to be taken seriously now.

— Daily Mail