Arsenal suffered a familiar problem with barn doors at Wembley last night before Thierry Henry struck in the first minute of injury-time and then set up Davor Suker seconds later to complete a dramatically late victory against AIK Solna.

Like Chelsea in Berlin the previous evening, Arsenal sought a win to maximise the effect of the scoreless point acquired against Italian opposition a week earlier. Naturally they hoped that, unlike Chelsea, their form would not desert them at the crucial hour.

Within eight minutes Arsenal reminded everyone of how wasteful their finishing could be. In the second minute Marc Overmars outwitted his marker, Pontus Kamark, near the left-hand corner flag before producing a centre perfectly designed for the head of Davor Suker, who promptly headed the gift wide.

Six minutes on and Suker's welljudged return pass left Dennis Bergkamp with only Mattias Asper to beat. Asper, however, is 6ft 5in of Swedish goalkeeper and when he leaves his line there is not much to aim at. Bergkamp, therefore, could be forgiven for seeing his shot blocked.

When, on the quarter-hour, Overmars met Nigel Winterburn's cross with a feeble header it seemed that, for all their passing patterns and remorseless pressure, Arsenal were wasting ammunition at a prodigious rate. They were playing with a lot of confidence and wore the air of men who knew that eventually the goals would come but in their rare breakaways AIK hinted that they had not come to Wembley merely to provide punchbags for the opposition.

A diving save by Asper denied Bergkamp a goal, following Suker's free-kick, midway through the first half but with Ola Andersson pushing forward from midfield to link with Andreas Andersson and Nebojsa Novakovic, Stockholm began to find breathing spaces amid Arsenal's attacking waves.

Arsenal's better movements tended to evolve on the left flank, where Overmars and Winterburn were combining with Vieira to turn the defence. But when they did score in the 27th minute, the goal stemmed from one of Vieira's typical bursts through the middle.

The Frenchman nearly lost the ball but retained possession and found Bergkamp, whose pass sent Fredrik Ljungberg past a square defence. Ljungberg accepted the Dutch treat, beating Asper with a flick of the outside of his right foot.

Arsenal took further encouragement from seeing Asper experience difficulty holding the ball when it skidded off the saturated surface. Either side of Ljungberg's goal Asper let slip long shots from Overmars and Bergkamp and had to grab the ball before it crossed the line.

Yet the dangerously high lunge from Thomas Lagerlof which eventually put Gilles Grimandi out of the match suggested AIK were not going to go quietly.

Stockholm drew level in the 52nd minute. As Ola Andersson fed a pass through a square defence to Krister Nordin, Winterburn failed to move up, keeping the Stockholm captain onside. Nordin scored jubilantly and suddenly, for Arsenal, the bad Wembley memories of last season were returning.

Arsenal's passing had become tentative, their defending hesitant. Arsenal needed another goal - and quickly. But once a team's rhythm is lost its return is seldom swift. Not surprisingly Arsene Wenger, having already replaced Grimandi with Silvinho, again turned to his bench for the last 22 minutes. Overmars gave way to Thierry Henry and Ljungberg was swapped for the closer control of Nwankwo Kanu.

But when Arsenal all but regained the lead it was a header from Martin Keown, following Bergkamp's free kick, which hit the underside of the bar.

Afterwards, Arsene Wenger admitted he had landed a massive gamble in order to keep Arsenal's Champions League dreams alive. Arsenal ended with four forwards on the pitch as they desperately sought the vital three points.

The Gunners looked like being held to a second draw within eight days after Fredrik Ljungberg's firsthalf goal was cancelled out by Krister Nordin.

But Wenger's gamble of bringing on both Thierry Henry and Kanu paid off. Wenger said: "It was a gamble but not to have won tonight would have made it nearly impossible to qualify.

"We would not have been out mathematically but it would have been very difficult. It still is, but at least we have the points.

"Their goal was a major psychological blow because they hadn't looked dangerous in the first-half but these games are decided more and more in the last five minutes when players are really tired, and it shows the value of the bench.

"At some stage I was concerned that we could lose the game because we had everybody forward and they were dangerous on the break."

Wenger admitted he feared Arsenal's Wembley jinx was about to strike again after Henry missed a glorious opportunity shortly after coming on, but added: "I think in the end we deserved to win.

"They defended very deep and very well and after we missed chances in the first half we came out a bit sluggish in the second half.

"We did not know whether to keep it at 1-0 or try and put them under pressure and that's what cost us the goal and we lost our way a bit."

Arsenal: Manninger, Dixon, Keown, Adams, Winterburn, Ljungberg (Henry 68), Vieira, Grimandi (Silvinho 55), Overmars (Kanu 68), Bergkamp, Suker. Subs Not Used: Lukic, Vivas, Luzhny, Upson. Goals: Ljungberg 27, Suker 90, Henry 90.

AIK Solna: Asper, Kaamark (Kjolo 46), Nordin, Lagerlof, O Andersson (Corneliusson 88), Brundin, A Andersson, Novakovic (Aslund 80), Gustafsson, Tjernstrom, Ljung. Subs Not Used: Baxter, Bergh, Mattiasson, Johansson. Goals: Nordin 52.

Referee: M Pereira (Portugal).