The Premier League outfits taking part in Europa League had mixed results in their respectful fixtures.
The most successful club was no doubt Wolverhampton Wanderers, currently 8th in the EPL, who beat the Spanish side Espanyol comfortably 4-0. Arsenal travelled to Athens to face Olympiacos and took a narrow 0-1 road win, while Manchester United failed to take advantage at Brugge, succumbing to a 1-1 draw. However, all the EPL teams have a definite edge heading to the second legs next Thursday.
Wolves performed impressively against their much minor opponent Espanyol, who are dead last in La Liga at the moment. Wolves took the early lead by Diego Jota’s first goal of the night on the 15th minute and never looked back. The second goal took some time, but it was well worth the wait. Ruben Neves’ volley will be playing in the high-light reels for some time. The Portuguese midfielder took down the clearance with his chest and blasted a brilliant 20-meter strike to take his team up 2-0 on 52 minute mark. Diego Jota then finished off his fantastic performance with two additional goals on 67th and 81st, making the second leg in Spain nothing but a necessity.
Arsenal had their work cut out for them in the first European fixture under the guidance of Mikel Arteta. Their opponent Olympiacos had joined the Europa League knockout stage from the Champions League group stage, where they were bested by Tottenham and Bayern München. The Greek side had not lost a game in all competitions since their visit to Spurs on 26th of November and had gone 18 games unbeaten. Arsenal was the more active side, but Alexandre Lacazette’s near miss was the closest they got in the first half and it was all deadlocked heading to the halftime. Olympiacos had their chances in the second half, but it was Lacazette who finally converted his opportunity and tipped in the inch-perfect pass by Bukayo Saka. It was enough to secure Arsenal 0-1 road win and hefty advantage heading to Emirates for the second leg.
Third EPL club in play last night, Manchester United, had less glamorous news to deliver. Their visit to Belgium to face Club Brugge finished in 1-1 stalemate despite United being the more active side. The home team started the scoring with a howler by United backup keeper Sergio Romero, who had wandered 20 yards out of his goal and was easy to lob by Brugge’s Emmanuel Dennis. Anthony Martial pegged one back with a great individual effort, beating his defender in a footrace from the half-field and carefully placing the ball in the back of the net. Despite United’s ostensible push, the score-line remained even until the final whistle and United still have some work to do in the second leg.
All the second legs of Europa League first knockout stage are played on Thusday 27th of February.
