Chelsea and Arsenal march on with Europa League wins

Premier League clubs Chelsea and Arsenal came through unscathed in the latest Europa League action.

Chelsea’s Spanish striker Alvaro Morata broke the deadlock for the Blues against Vidi at Stamford Bridge. Picture: AFP

Premier League clubs Chelsea and Arsenal came through unscathed in the latest Europa League action, with victories over Hungarian champions Vidi and Qarabag respectively yesterday (AEST).

Teenage forward Emile Smith-Rowe scored his first senior goal as Arsenal defeated Qarabag 3-0 and Alvaro Morata found the net for the Blues against the Azerbaijan champions in the only goal of the match at Stamford Bridge. The 25-year-old scored with 20 minutes to go, but only after Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri had brought on star playmaker Eden Hazard in a bid to break a deadlock, which stood due to the Blues’ wasteful finishing.

Spain striker Morata, without a goal since August 18, wasted a chance in the first half but atoned with a sharp finish on 70 minutes to put Chelsea ahead.

Substitute Ross Barkley headed against the crossbar and Kepa Arrizabalaga, the world’s most expensive goalkeeper, produced an excellent save to deny Istvan Kovacs a late equaliser.

Sarri said of Morata, who scored for just the second time in 10 outings this season: “If after a goal he wants to cry, I hope to see him cry very often.

“It’s very important for him to score. I think it’s very important for him to play a very good match. He played a very good match.”

Elsewhere, substitute Patrick Cutrone netted twice in nine minutes to lift seven-time European champions AC Milan to a 3-1 win at home to Olympiakos.

Like Arsenal and Milan, last year’s semi-finalists Salzburg, Bayer Leverkusen, Zurich, Sporting and Dinamo Zagreb also made it two wins from two group games.

Arsenal’s Armenian forward Henrikh Mkhitaryan was one of three players who didn’t make the 4000km trip to the Azerbaijan capital of Baku. Azerbaijan and Armenia are in a dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Arsenal manager Unai Emery said Mkhitaryan “cannot travel here”.

Sokratis Papastathopoulos scored the first goal after four minutes when Nacho Monreal headed the ball on from a corner. The 18-year-old Smith-Rowe and Matteo Guendouzi then struck in the second half.

Emery said: “It was a difficult game. Every match is important for us. We played an away game against a strong opponent.

“Qarabag is an ambitious team and we had to try a lot today.”

Sporting Lisbon rallied to win 2-1 at Ukraine’s Vorskla to join Arsenal atop Group E with six points.

Miguel Angel Guerrero gave Olympiakos the lead against the run of play in the 14th minute before Milan’s Ricardo Rodriguez crossed for Cutrone to head the equaliser with 20 minutes to go.

A Higuain low shot put the Italian club 2-1 up and Cutrone tapped in his second goal from close range in the 79th.

Real Betis scored three goals in the second half to ease past Luxembourgers Dudelange 3-0. Bayer Leverkusen came from a goal down to beat AEK Larnaca 4-2 and Zurich beat Ludogorets 1-0.

In Group B, Salzburg beat Celtic 3-1 and Leipzig won 3-1 at Rosenborg. Dinamo Zagreb upset hosts Anderlecht 2-0 to dominate Group D with six points.

AP