Alexandre Lacazette scored a late winner to secure Arsenal a 1-0 win at Olympiacos and hand the Gunners a significant advantage in their Europa League last-32 tie.

Mikel Arteta's men looked to be heading for an underwhelming goalless draw in Piraeus, but Lacazette struck nine minutes from time to get Arsenal a potentially vital away goal ahead of the return leg in London.

The Gunners had little difficulty taking control and should have netted early on when Lacazette was guilty of a dreadful miss, and the visitors failed to craft a better opportunity until late on.

Olympiacos generally appeared happy to hold on for a stalemate, but that approach backfired when Lacazette turned in Bukayo Saka's pass, putting Arsenal in complete control of the tie.

After surviving an early scare when Bernd Leno denied Mathieu Valbuena, Lacazette missed a glorious chance for the Gunners, somehow shooting wide from about eight yards having been teed up by Gabriel Martinelli.

Leno had to be alert again a few moments later, making a reaction save after Giorgos Masouras' cross was deflected goalwards by David Luiz.

A second opportunity came Lacazette's way just before the break, but Ousseynou Ba crucially got a touch to divert his fierce volley over the crossbar.

The contest became a cagier affair after the break, with Arsenal controlling possession but doing little to hurt an Olympiacos side seemingly content to absorb pressure.

But Arsenal finally produced some spark in attack through Saka in the 81st minute, the 18-year-old talent driving at the defence and feeding Lacazette, who tapped in from close range.

Sokratis Papastathopoulos almost doubled Arsenal's advantage when his late header came back off the crossbar.

Europa League last 32, 1st leg results on Thursday:                  Sporting Lisbon (POR) 3 (Coates 3, Sporar 44, Vietto 51) Basaksehir (TUR) 1 (Visca 77-pen)Getafe (ESP) 2 (Deyverson 38, Kenedy 90+3) Ajax Amsterdam (NED) 0Copenhagen (DEN) 1 (N'Doye 52) Celtic (SCO) 1 (Edouard 14) CFR Cluj (ROU) 1 (Deac 59-pen) Sevilla (ESP) 1 (En-Nesyri 82)Club Brugge (BEL) 1 (Dennis 15) Man Utd (ENG) 1 (Martial 36)Ludogorets (BUL) 0 Inter Milan (ITA) 2 (Eriksen 71, Lukaku 90+5-pen)Eintracht Frankfurt (GER) 4 (Kamada 12, 43, 53 Kostic 56) RB Salzburg (AUT) 1 (Hwang 85-pen)Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) 2 (Patrick 56, Kovalenko 72) Benfica (POR) 1 (Pizzi 67-pen)Wolverhampton (ENG) 4 (Diogo Jota 15, 67, 81 Neves 52) Espanyol (ESP) 0Bayer Leverkusen (GER) 2 (Alario 29, Havertz 57-pen) Porto (POR) 1 (Luis Diaz 73)APOEL Nicosia (CYP) 0 Basel (SUI) 3 (Petretta 16, Stocker 53, Cabral 66)Olympiakos (GRE) 0 Arsenal (ENG) 1 (Lacazette 81)AZ Alkmaar (NED) 1 (Koopmeiners 86-pen) Linz (AUT) 1 (Raguz 26)Wolfsburg (GER) 2 (Brekalo 49, Mehmedi 62) Malmo (SWE) 1 (Thelin 47-pen)AS Roma (ITA) 1 (Carles Perez 13) Ghent (BEL) 0Glasgow Rangers (SCO) 3 (Hagi 67, 82, Ayodele-Aribo 75) Sporting Braga (POR) 2 (Fransergio 11, Ruiz 59)