Tony Mowbray’s Celtic were left cursing their luck against Arsenal as they took a giant stride towards the Champions League exit.

Celtic will have a mountain to climb at the Emirates Stadium next week after shipping two unfortunate away goals at home.

After containing Arsenal for the initial 43 minutes – a Cesc Fabregas long range free-kick took a deflection off former Gunners skipper William Gallas and nestled in the net, sending Celtic stopper Artur Boruc the wrong way in the process.

Arsenal dominated proceedings without being threatening in the first-half but Russian winger Andrey Arshavin did have a goal ruled out for offside.

After the break the game became stretched as Celtic threw on Scott McDonald and Marc-Antoine Fortune and changed to a 4-4-2 formation.

But the increased space played straight into Arsenal’s hands and a Gael Clichy cross was turned into his own net by Celtic skipper Gary Caldwell.