A miscommunication between Arsenal goalkeeper Misa Rodriguez and England captain Leah Williamson gifted Paris FC a late equaliser as the sides drew 2-2 in the Women's Champions League.

Arsenal had taken a two-goal lead through Alessia Russo and Georgia Stanway, scoring their first goals of the season either side of half-time before Clara Mateo halved the deficit for Paris with a brilliant counter-attacking move.

With five minutes left, Williamson secured the ball with her hand in order to take a goalkick - but the referee deemed her team-mate Misa had already taken it, and awarded a penalty for handball, which Maeline Mendy scored to level the game.

It was a bizarre turn of events which Arsenal manager Renee Slegers and her team could have done without, having won just one of their opening four Women's Super League (WSL) games and only narrowly winning their Champions League opener against HB Koge amid struggles in front of goal.

For all their slick passing in the opening stages, Arsenal were threatening to continue their unwanted theme of their season so far - stale, predictable attacking characterised the first half as, once again, the Gunners were thwarted by a low block, missing a quality ball to create a good chance to score.

But then, five minutes from half-time, Russo provided the lead, playing a neat one-two with Stanway, making herself space to shoot, then slamming the ball into the bottom corner.

Having scored five goals in the final five games of last season, Russo has fired blanks in the first five of this one and, returning to her preferred number nine position amid varied deployments by Slegers, her goal served as a reminder that she - and Arsenal can be dangerous.

On the stroke of half-time Paris, who had made better chances than Arsenal with less of the ball, gave due warning that they might take more than a single goal to beat as Evelyne Viens hit the bar from close range.

An invigorated Arsenal delivered a second within five minutes through Stanway, her first goal since signing from Bayern Munich in July, as the Paris defence gave her time to chest down Emily Fox's cross and score an emphatic volley from six yards out.

Despite an improvement in attack with goals for Stanway and Russo, Paris looked threatening and had plenty of chances throughout.

In the 71st minute, one of Paris' counter-attacks finally resulted in a goal, as Mateo ran the length of Arsenal's half uncontested, rounded Misa and finished into an empty net.

Against Barcelona last week, Mateo struck her side's second and final goal of the night as Paris were defeated 5-2 by the Spanish champions.

But this time, her goal stood for more than a consolation as Williamson's handling of the ball paved the way for substitute Mendy's late equaliser.

About an hour after the final whistle, Dinsey+ reported that Arsenal manager Renee Slegers did not speak with the media and assistant manager Aaron D'Antino completed media duties.

Asked how the players were feeling, he said: "It's incredibly disappointing, or frustrating I should say, because we felt like for large periods of the game we had good control.

"They are a counter-attacking team - that is their threat, so we were aware of that."

On the penalty, D'Antino said: "If we're looking at what we can control, it's just passing the ball to Leah from what I remember seeing. The ball was still rolling and she [Rodriguez] was moving it to Leah for her to take the goal-kicks as we normally do.

"So maybe the learning in that is how we get the ball to Leah, so we don't put ourselves in that situation."

With just minutes left, Arsenal looked on course to deliver a win that would reduce the pressure on Slegers, if not a performance which signalled a definitive end to their struggles.

The Gunners manager will likely feel aggrieved about the way her side dropped two points, a penalty awarded in a by-the-book ruling which allowed no consideration for the innocence of Williamson's error.

With half an hour to defend their two-goal lead, Slegers had shown intent with an attack-minded substitution. Replacing Kim Little with Olivia Smith, who scored against Paris in a pre-season friendly, she smelled an opportunity to put their dry spell in front of goal emphatically behind them.

But the Gunners noticeably eased off in the lead-up to Paris' first goal, then could not recover the attacking thrust which earned them their lead.

Arsenal's Champions League campaign gets tougher from here, with a trip to holders Barcelona and a game against eight-time champions Lyon to come.