Arsene Wenger’s side looked to get on the front foot straight away however when Alex Song lost the ball in midfield he then fouled Loic Remy and picked up a yellow card. Fortunately for the Cameroonian international Mathieu Valbuena’s free-kick went straight into the hands of Wojciech Szczesny.
The Gunners began to get into gear with their controlled passing game and their patient approach was nearly rewarded when Theo Walcott’s cross was almost headed into the net by skipper Robin Van Persie however the Dutchman couldn’t connect properly as his effort sailed wide.
Marseille tried to back into the game and were using the ball quite nicely but their delivery in the final third was poor as they wasted decent opportunities to put Arsenal’s fragile defence under pressure, particularly from set-pieces.
However the French side did feel they were denied a penalty when a cross appeared to hit Jenkinson on the arm but these appeals were waved by referee Damir Skomina.
Arsene Wenger’s side nearly made the home side pay for their lack of cutting edge as Van Persie saw his goal-bound header cleared off the line by defender Souleymane Diawara as it looked destined for the back of net from Mikel Arteta’s corner.
The hosts responded to this threat through Remy who danced his way through the Gunners defence before firing a shot at goal which deflected off Carl Jenkinson and was enough to take the strike away from the Szczesny’s net.
Didier Deschamps’ side were beginning to dial up the pressure on the Arsenal back-line and Lucho Gonzlalez came extremely close to breaking the deadlock as he raced onto cross into the area but his left-footed shot when just wide of the post.
The Gunners began the second half the stronger of the two sides and saw a lot of possession but like the hosts in the first period they wasted good chances to put Marseille under pressure with sloppy deliveries in the final third of the pitch.
Marseille came close to ending the stalemate when Remy put a dangerous ball into the Arsenal area which the Gunners failed to clear and Andre Ayew nearly capitalised however Song was on hand to make a great tackle to prevent the Ghanaian getting a shot at goal.
Just after the hour mark Walcott had Arsene Wenger’s side’s best chance of the evening when he was put through by Tomas Rosicky.
The England international managed to escape the attentions of defender Nicolas N’Koulou before firing an effort straight at keeper Steve Mandanda who made a decent stop to deny the Gunners taking the lead.
Both teams had problems in the final third of the pitch as neither seemed capable of producing the quality needed to carve out that one clear cut opportunity much to the frustration of their managers on the sidelines.
Van Persie threatened for Arsenal late on but he was again denied by Mandanda as the Frenchman looked to keep a clean sheet and a share of the points for the French side.
However this effort proved in vain as Ramsey struck in the 92nd minute after latching onto a through ball and smashed a right footed effort past the Marseille keeper to steal the points for the Gunners.
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