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What's the story?
Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has criticised the Gunners' performance in their 4-1 loss to Chelsea in the Europa League final last week.
In case you didn't know...
A brace from Belgian superstar Eden Hazard and goals from Olivier Giroud and Pedro Rodriguez helped Chelsea win the match 4-1 in Baku. Although Alex Iwobi managed to get one goal back for the Gunners, it was all in vain.
Following a goalless first half, the game changed gears when Giroud broke the deadlock with a header after the break. After that, Chelsea ran riot in the Arsenal box and scored three more time. On the other hand, the attacking guns of Arsenal - Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - both failed to influence the game.
Heart of the matter
When talking about Arsenal's disappointing perfomance in the Europa League final, Wenger said,
“I felt that in the first half we did quite alright but as soon as Chelsea scored the first goal we collapsed completely.
“In the second half we didn’t exist. It was a sad night for us.”
The Frechman, who left Arsenal at the end of the 2017-18 campaign, added,
“I agree that until the quarter-final in the Europa League you play with a reserve team when you play in England because the Premier League is so demanding.
“I would say that even in the Champions League group stage you rest players, when you have a difficult game over the weekend, sometimes even in the group stage because you’re close to qualifying.
“The Premier League is so difficult that until the quarter-final the teams play with [players] who do not play in the Premier League.
“I think in recent years it is always the team who got knocked out in the Champions League group stage who won for many, many years in the Europa League.”
What's next?
After losing their last chance to play Champions League football next season, Arsenal now have to be satisfied with the Europa League in the 2019-20 campaign.
