Uefa Europa League: Chelsea, Arsenal Through To Round of 16

Uefa Europa League: Chelsea, Arsenal Through To Round of 16

By Admin

Respite came for faltering English Premiership sides, Chelsea and Arsenal as they celebrated their qualifications for the last 16 round of 2018/19 Europa League on Thursday night.

Embattled Coach Maurizio Sarri’s troubled Chelsea side relieved some of the pressure on him with a 3-0 bashing of mediocre Swedish club, FC Malmo at Stamford Bridge.

At the Emirate, the Gunners also went through with a comfortable 3-0 winners over visiting BATE Borisov of Belarus on the night.

Chelsea, already 2-1 ahead from the first-leg clash in Sweden, waited until 10 minutes after the break to kick-start their celebrations with Olivier Giroud tapping in the decisive goal of a boring encounter.

Ross Barkley made sure of victory with a super free-kick in the 74th minute, just after Malmo’s Rasmus Bengtsson was sent off for his second bookable offence. Interestingly, 18-year-old Callum Hudson-Odoi made the most of a rare start by crashing home the third.

The highly-rated Hudson Odoi, who was a Bayern Munich target in January, said after the match that; “The boys really played well today. We worked hard throughout the game. The goal that came at the end was definitely a bonus for the way that we played.”

For Arsenal, who fell 1-0 in Belarus, matters were level on aggregate after just three minutes as Zakhar Volkov sliced Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s low cross past his goalkeeper Denis Scherbitski for an own goal.

Deservedly, the Unai Emery’s men were again rewarded with two thumping headers from Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis either side of the break which put them into today’s (Friday) draw.

“We wanted this result but also we wanted to play for our supporters here. We did our best to come back (in the tie) and the team worked very well,” Emery said.

Similarly, Carlo Ancelotti’s Napoli breezed to a 2-0 win over FC Zurich that saw them win 5-1 on aggregate, while Inter Milan went through 5-0 after humbling Rapid Vienna without reply at the San Siro