Arsenal secured a place in the last 16 of the Europa League with a resounding victory over BATE Borisov at the Emirates Stadium as Mesut Ozil returned to the starting line-up. Alex Iwobi tested Denis Scherbitski in the early exchanges as he collected a Stephan Lichtsteiner cross before firing into the gloves of the BATE goalkeeper. Moments later and Arsenal were ahead, Volkov inadvertently sending a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang centre past Scherbitski to give the hosts a crucial early goal to level the tie on aggregate. Arsenal’s Sokratis Papastathopoulos (centre) scores (Nick Potts/PA)An injury to captain Laurent Koscielny soured the night for Arsenal as he limped off to be replaced by fit-again Sokratis, Ozil taking the armband in the process. Arsenal saw the game out professionally, Denis Suarez coming off the bench to make his home debut, and will head into Friday’s draw looking to again avoid the bigger clubs.

Source: Irish Examiner February 21, 2019 19:52 UTC