Credit: Sky Sports Football / Twitter
Arsenal’s only hope of Champions League football next season was by winning the Europa League, but Unai Emery’s aspirations were well and truly destroyed as Arsenal produced a second-half collapse.
After a less-than-inspiring first-half, Chelsea broke the deadlock through former Arsenal forward Olivier Giroud. The Frenchman tucked home a diving header from Emerson’s pin-point delivery to net his eleventh Europa League goal of the season and finish top-scorer in the second-tier European competition.
Eleven minutes later and Emery’s side were 2-0 down. Eden Hazard found space on the left of the area and picked out Pedro who scuffed a left-footed shot across Petr Cech and into the corner.
On a bad night for Arsenal, things were made even worse when Ainsley Maitland-Miles bundled Giroud over in the box; Hazard obliged from twelve yards and sent Cech the wrong way as he signed off his Chelsea career with a goal.
Alex Iwobi pulled an impressive goal back for the Gunners just moments after coming on as a substitute. The replacement for Nacho Monreal let the ball bounce 22-yards from goal before striking into the far corner with the outside of his boot.
However, any hopes of a comeback were dashed three minutes later when Giroud and Hazard combined excellently before the latter drove a low shot beyond Cech to ensure the hands of Chelsea’s players would be holding the trophy aloft.
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