Arsenal missed a chance to virtually guarantee themselves a place in the knockout stage of the Champions League when they were held 1-1 by Panathinaikos at Highbury on Tuesday.

A Thierry Henry penalty was cancelled out when Arsenal defender Pascal Cygan diverted a shot past his own goalkeeper with 15 minutes to go and Panathinaikos held out against some frenetic Arsenal attacking to secure a point.

It was hardly the result Arsenal wanted after a couple of difficult weeks and it could have been worse had Angelos Basinas not missed a penalty for the Greek champions in the 62nd minute.

Arsenal, who needed a late goal on Saturday to avoid a second straight league defeat a week after Manchester United had ended their record unbeaten run at 49 games, remained second in Group E three points behind PSV Eindhoven with Panathinaikos still just a point behind.

The home side made a stuttering start and looked out of sorts before referee Luis Medina Cantalejo adjudged that Sotiris Kirgiakos had bundled Arsenal skipper Patrick Vieira over in the box as they competed for a 16th minute Dennis Bergkamp freekick.

NO MISTAKE

Henry, who missed a penalty against Southampton on Saturday, made no mistake this time and after a stutter-step the French striker sent Kostas Chalkias the wrong way.

But the goal failed to fire Arsenal and for the rest of the half they continued to scrap it out in a congested midfield while failing to find their teammates with the usual incisive passing.

Henry had a goal disallowed for offside early in the second half after a fine run by Robert Pires but just after the half hour mark Panathinaikos looked to set to get back on level terms when Ashley Cole upended Dimitris Papadopoulos in the box.

The Greek striker was taken off the pitch before his teammate Basinas skied the ball over the bar from the spot -- the second time he has missed a penalty at Highbury after a similar experience three years ago.

But 13 minutes later, Panathinaikos did equalise when Loukas Vintra's long-range shot was diverted by the head of Cygan past Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann.

Arsenal hit back immediately and substitute Jose Antonio Reyes, who had only replaced Denis Bergkamp a couple of minutes earlier, was twice denied -- first by Chalkias and then by the bar -- but the Greeks kept their shape and dug deep to ride out the last quarter of an hour.