Gunners through after Shrews scare

Arsenal lifted the gloom around Emirates Stadium after coming from behind to beat Shrewsbury 3-1 in Tuesday night's Carling Cup third round tie.

The Gunners have endured the worst start to a season under beleaguered manager Arsene Wenger - and their misery deepened when James Collins headed the npower League Two side ahead on 16 minutes.

However, England defender Kieran Gibbs levelled before the break, with the lively Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain firing in a 25-yard effort on the hour and Yossi Benayoun wrapping things up late on.

Wenger - who earlier received the full backing of chief executive Ivan Gazidis in the wake of an appalling run of results and a 4-3 defeat at struggling Blackburn - named a youthful squad, with starts for South Korean forward Park Ju-young and promising teenager Oxlade-Chamberlain, while Benayoun and Johan Djourou, captain for the night, provided the experience.

Despite the wholesale changes, it was still a very strong Arsenal side as last season's beaten finalists looked to signal their intent for another crack at Wembley.

But the 5,000 travelling fans erupted in joyous celebration when Collins got above a static Arsenal defence to head the League Two side into a deserved lead after 16 minutes.#

Arsenal fans breathed a sigh of relief when Gibbs levelled after 33 minutes, powering a bullet header inside the far post from Carl Jenkinson's right-wing cross.

To their credit, Shrewsbury refused to lie down and went forward with plenty of purpose themselves. But Arsenal went ahead on 58 minutes through a bullet from the impressive Oxlade-Chamberlain.

There looked little on when the 18-year-old former Southampton trainee collected the ball 25 yards out, but he promptly drilled a low strike under Smith.

And with 11 minutes left, Benayoun made the tie safe when he swept home from close range following good work in the right side of the Shrewsbury penalty box by young substitute Oguzhan Ozyakup.