Two goals by Marc Overmars helped Arsenal make partial amends for another failed Champions' League adventure by maintaining an unbeaten away record and finishing on a winning note in the competition this season.

The Gunners have ended up with two wins, two draws and two defeats - exactly the same as 12 months ago.

And the fact that they managed heroic draws in the hotbeds of Fiorentina and Barcelona and finished off with a well-earned win in Sweden will only add emphasis to the popular theory that choosing Wembley for their 'home' fixtures was, once more, their undoing.

Now they go into the UEFA Cup as consolation for finishing third in Group B, parachuting into the third round draw on Friday.

But it is back to good old Highbury for that competition and this thought was reason enough for the cheers of the hardy 500 fans who followed their favourites to Scandinavia for one last hurrah.

Boss Arsene Wenger had insisted it was an 'important' match to win despite the fact that neither side could qualify for the second round but he fielded a team without skipper Tony Adams, Martin Keown, Dennis Bergkamp and the injured Ray Parlour.

Young reserves Tommy Black, Ashley Cole and Paolo Vernazza were on the substitutes' bench alongside England goalkeeper David Seaman. And the big bonus for Wenger was that French World Cup star Emmanuel Petit came through 77 minutes despite a heavily-strapped knee before going off.

The signs for him turning out again for Sunday's Premiership derby at Tottenham look good - especially as that will be midfield partner Patrick Vieira's final outing before a six-match ban.

Arsenal might have been glad just to get this game over and done with and taken three more points but AIK Solna's fans certainly took it seriously.

Although their home attendances rarely top 14,000 for domestic fixtures, there was a near-full house of more than twice that figure at the Rasunda Stadium, hoping to witness the Swedish side's first victory in the Champions' League to compensate them for losing the Swedish title last Sunday.

Solna's nippy attackers caused some consternation early on for Arsenal's new centre back pairing of Matthew Upson and Oleg Luzhny.

But the home crowd were silenced by a blundering decision to play an Arsenal-style offside game in the 17th minute.

It backfired badly when Fredrik Ljungberg, Arsenal's own Swede, made a perfectly-timed forward pass to Petit whose cross from the right found Overmars unmarked in the middle. The little Dutchman calmly fired past Mattias Asper from 10 yards.

Overmars had hardly touched the ball in the first quarter-hour but after his goal, the Swedes could hardly contain him.

Earlier, when fed by Vieira, he turned neatly inside defender Thomas Lagerlof and cut in to fire a deflected shot from the edge of the area into the keeper's arms.

And it was Overmars again who brought a 25th-minute save out of Asper following a determined run by Ljungberg. Stand-in skipper Nigel Winterburn followed up to hit the rebound but Asper blocked that as well.

Solna raised the tempo and looked certain to equalise on 27 minutes when Ola Andersson was judged onside running onto a long through-ball but Alex Manninger sprang from his line to make the block with his legs.

The same player had another good opportunity when former Newcastle striker Andreas Andersson, who was also to score twice before the finish, laid the ball to him at the edge of the area but his namesake scuffed the shot wide.

Despite the somewhat meaningless status of the game, the first half was fiercely contested and the quick pace on a bumpy pitch - at the end of the Swedish domestic season - provided a good test of Petit's knee.

Arsenal had begun to take charge but were suddenly caught on their heels in the 41st minute when Andreas Andersson slotted the equaliser. Vieira lost possession in the Solna half and Daniel Tjernstrom wasted no time hitting a long ball in behind the Gunners' back four.

The former Newcastle striker burst through and neatly rounded Manninger before sliding into an empty net.

Solna looked set to capitalise on that as they pressurised the Arsenal goal at the start of the second half but, instead, were caught out by two piercing moves that brought further goals for Overmars and Davor Suker in a four-minute spell.

Kanu glided onto Petit's pass to thread through for Overmars to score as he liked in the 52nd minute.

Then after the winger wasted a hat-trick chance - shooting across goal when perfectly set up by Suker - and Nevojsa Novakovic missed an opportunity just as easy at the other end, Suker grabbed Arsenal's third.

Kanu was again the architect with a low cross from the right and the Croat forced it home at the far post.

That looked like game over, but the gritty Swedes kept battling and Arsenal were appealing for offside when Andreas Andersson slipped away from Lee Dixon into the penalty area to convert a long, diagonal ball from the right 22 minutes from the end.

Wenger pulled off Petit, Suker and the limping Luzhny nine minutes later in a triple substitution. And with Solna changing their goalkeeper, with British-born manager Stuart Baxter sending on son Lee, it was something of a surreal finish.

But Arsenal held out for the victory they deserved and it was yet again a case of thinking what might have been had they had an ounce of success against Barcelona and Fiorentina at Wembley.

Teams

AIK Solna: Asper (Baxter 72), Nordin, Kaamark, Corneliusson (Aslund 72), O. Andersson, Lagerlof, Gustafsson, Kjolo, Tjernstrom, Novakovic, A. Andersson.

Subs Not Used: Mattiasson, Hoch, Johansson, Ishizaki, Ljung.

Goals: A. Andersson 41, 68.

Arsenal: Manninger, Dixon, Luzhny (Vivas 78), Upson, Winterburn, Ljungberg, Vieira, Petit (Malz 78), Overmars, Kanu, Suker (Hughes 78).

Subs Not Used: Seaman, Vernazza, Cole, Black.

Goals: Overmars 17, 52, Suker 56.

Att: 33,000

Ref: H Strampe (Germany).