Arsenal & Chelsea Progress In UEFA Europa League

Arsenal and Chelsea put patchy domestic form behind them to reach the Europa League last 16 and they were joined by fellow big guns from Italy on a night of rip-roaring action in the continent’s second-tier competition on Thursday.

Arsenal beat BATE Borisov 3-0 after a 1-0 first-leg defeat by the Belarus champions while Chelsea took some of the pressure off coach Maurizio Sarri with a 3-0 home defeat of Malmo which gave them a 5-1 aggregate win over the Swedish side.

Eintracht Frankfurt beat Shakhtar Donetsk 4-1 to earn a 6-3 overall victory and Napoli, winners of the Uefa Cup in 1989, had no problems beating FC Zurich 2-0 at home to advance 5-1 on aggregate.

For the first time in the competition this season, there will be no seeding and no country protection, meaning Premier League titans Arsenal and Chelsea could be paired alongside each other, but UEFA could announce some restrictions ahead of the draw – likely preventing sides from Ukraine and Russia facing off.Arsenal and Chelsea reached the last 16 of the Europa League on Thursday (Feb 21) after the Gunners comfortably saw off BATE Borisov 3-0 and Maurizio Sarri’s troubled side relieved some of the pressure on him with the same scoreline against mediocre Malmo.

Unai Emery’s side deservedly went through thanks to two thumping headers from Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis either side of the break which put them into Friday’s 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 told BT Sport.

Ahead 2-1 from the first leg in Sweden, Chelsea had to wait until 10 minutes after the break for the first sign of excitement, Olivier Giroud tapping in the decisive goal of a humdrum encounter at Stamford Bridge.

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