Beth Mead shootsGetty Images
At a glance
Arsenal secure place in knockout phase with one game to spare
Beth Mead scores early after pressure from Mariona Caldentey
Arsenal miss several chances to make lead secure
Alex Brotherton
BBC Sport journalist
Arsenal again failed to convince but secured their place in the knockout stages of the Women's Champions League with a 1-0 defeat of FC Twente.
Beth Mead made Arsenal's early pressure count by finding the bottom corner with a deflected strike in the 10th minute.
The Gunners made an unconvincing start to their European title defence, winning twice but throwing away leads in losses to Lyon and Bayern Munich.
Much of this match was played inside Twente's defensive third, yet Renee Slegers' side failed to turn that dominance into a comfortable lead.
Twente struggled to keep hold of the ball as Arsenal counter-pressed high up the pitch, and after 10 minutes the Gunners struck.
Mariona Caldentey intercepted a Twente pass out from defence and found Alessia Russo with her back to goal, who turned and found Mead to score.
Mead saw a goal-bound effort headed off the goalline two minutes earlier, before Russo headed agonisingly wide from a corner later in the half.
Russo missed three chances in the second half including a late header which cannoned off the crossbar, before substitute Frida Maanum saw her strike heroically blocked.
Arsenal move up to sixth in the table with nine points, and as it stands will enter the knockout phase play-off round as a seeded team.
They must beat Leuven on matchday six to have any chance of finishing in the top four and progressing directly to the quarter-finals.
Analysis - Arsenal get away with wasteful finishing
As has been an all too familiar story this season, Arsenal dominated and looked comfortable but could not score enough goals to make the game safe.
Fortunately for them Twente offered little in attack – an unmarked Sophie Proost headed over midway through the first half, but the visitors' only other shot of the night did not come until the 84th minute.
"We could have maybe took a few more risks in the final third. We had very good chances today and didn't put some of them in the back of the net which is very frustrating," Mead told Disney+.
"We obviously want to score more goals. We had chances to do that. We weren't ruthless enough in front of goal today. When you have chances you have to score."
That said, Arsenal's early pressing was effective and set the tone for a crucial victory.
Caldentey, who became the second youngest player in history to reach 80 appearances in the Women's Champions League, was particularly impressive, while Olivia Smith and Mead caused plenty of issues down the flanks.
Russo showed her creative qualities by dropping deep and setting up Mead to score, but on this occasion could not add to her competition-leading four goals.
Slegers will be disappointed not to have given Leah Williamson minutes from the bench as planned, but this was not the right time to introduce a defender who has not played since the European Championship final.
Mead said that a top-four finish remains the target, but admitted that her side have not been at their best at times this season.
"We've been really close in a lot of games. We've let ourselves down in a few moments, Bayern Munich first half was really good, second half we let ourselves down," she said.
"We know we can compete, it's just putting it together and getting those results over the line."
Ultimately Arsenal needed to win and did just that, but they will need to be more ruthless if they are to defend their title.
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Player of the match
B. Mead
8.74
Arsenal
Twente
9B. Mead
8.74
23A. Russo
8.00
10K. Little
7.84
24T. Hinds
7.82
3L. Wubben-Moy
7.81
19C. Foord
7.69
7S. Catley
7.67
2E. Fox
7.61
11K. McCabe
7.61
32K. Cooney-Cross
7.58
28A. Borbe
7.44
8Mariona Caldentey
7.19
15O. Smith
7.17
21V. Pelova
6.84
25S. Blackstenius
6.37
12F. Maanum
6.12
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6L. Groenewegen
5.17
7C. Hulst
5.17
19S. Proost
5.11
10J. Roord
5.09
9J. Ravensbergen
4.80
14E. Oude Elberink
4.77
5A. Knol
4.55
1D. Lemey
4.43
4L. Carleer
4.00
18S. te Brake
3.75
11A. Tuin
3.70
2I. van der Vegt
3.18
8D. van Ginkel
3.09
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After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users.
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