Arsenal left with work to do after Europa League shock

Arsenal suffered a surprise 1-0 loss at Bate Borisov in the first leg of their Europa League last 32 clash in Belarus.

Bate’s Maksim Skavysh, right, celebrates after his teammate Stanislav Dragun scored past Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech at the Borisov-Arena in Belarus. Picture: AP

Arsenal suffered a surprise 1-0 loss at Bate Borisov in the first leg of their Europa League last 32 clash, with London rivals Chelsea winning 2-1 at Malmo and record champions Sevilla winning 1-0 at Lazio.

A promising start brought no reward for Unai Emery’s Arsenal in Belarus and Stanislav Dragun headed the only goal shortly before halftime. Striker Alexandre Lacazette was shown a red card late on to complete a miserable night for the Gunners.

Chelsea led through Ross Barkley and Olivier Giroud to take command in Sweden before Anders Christiansen pulled one back for Malmo.

Sevilla, five-time winners of the Europa League/UEFA Cup, ruled in Rome thanks to Wissam Ben Yedder’s first-half strike.

Scottish champions Celtic lost 2-0 at home to Valencia, Napoli won 3-1 at Zurich and 10-man Shakhtar Donetsek held Eintracht Frankfurt 2-2.

Bayer Leverkusen drew 0-0 away to Krasnodar, Inter Milan won 1-0 at Rapid Vienna, Rennes drew 3-3 with Real Betis.

Arsenal created chances early but Bate held out and struck the post through Nemanja Milic as they played their way into the game.

Dragun glanced in a free-kick from Igor Stasevich to break the deadlock and Bate held their own through the second half of a match played on a deteriorating pitch.

Lacazette was dismissed for elbowing Aleksandar Filipovic in the closing minutes and Arsenal enter the second leg with work to do to reach the last 16.

“The first half was a good performance, we had chances to score,” said Emery. “Defensively when they were 1-0 they were organised and competitive. Our big opportunity is next week at home.

“Today is not the result we wanted. We deserved more but they worked for this. Next week is going to be different.”

Chelsea bounced back from a 6-0 thrashing at the hands of Manchester City by easing past Malmo.

Barkley pounced on a first-half mistake to open the scoring and Giroud’s flick after the break had them cruising.

Christiansen netted a late consolation which is unlikely to change the outcome of the tie.

Sevilla will be without suspended Ever Banega for their return with Lazio but do hold the advantage.

A slick break concluded with Ben Yedder tapping in from Pablo Sarabia’s low cross to give them the win.

“In these games if you think you’re superior, you can concede a goal from nothing but the seriousness of the team has prevented it,” Sevilla coach Pablo Machin said.

DPA