Football
PA Sport 6y

Olivier Giroud saves Arsenal with late Europa winner; Everton lose again

Olivier Giroud struck a late winner against Red Star Belgrade to preserve Arsenal's unblemished start to their Europa League Group H campaign with a 1-0 victory on Thursday.

Giroud pounced with a brilliant overhead kick in the 85th minute after Jack Wilshere and Theo Walcott combined to set up the chance in Belgrade.

In the other game in the group, Aleksey Rios put home a loose ball in the box early in the second half to help BATE Borisov beat Bundesliga side Cologne 1-0.

Arsenal are perfect on nine points, while BATE and Red Star are both on four, and Cologne are still looking for their first point.

Lyon heaped further pressure on Everton manager Ronald Koeman as they recorded a 2-1 victory at Goodison Park.

Lyon opened the scoring inside the sixth minute, with Nabil Fekir converting a penalty after Fernando Marcal had been brought down by Mason Holgate.

Ashley Williams netted the home side's equaliser in the 69th minute, heading home Gylfi Sigurdsson's delivery with a thumping effort.

But Lyon were able to regain the lead in the 75th minute, with former Chelsea man Bertrand Traore flicking the ball past Jordan Pickford after meeting Maxwel Cornet's delivery at the near post.

Everton have now gone four games without a win in all competitions and have just one point from three Europa League matches to leave them bottom of Group E, with Lyon remaining in second place behind leaders Atalanta, who cruised past Apollon 3-1.

In Group K, Mario Balotelli gave Nice an early lead but it was not enough to prevent Lazio from emerging convincing 3-1 winners at the Stade de Nice.

Felipe Caicedo equalised almost immediately before Sergej Milinkovic-Savic was on target twice to clinch victory and keep Lazio at the summit of the table ahead of their rivals from France.

Zulte-Waregem and Vitesse Arnhem drew 1-1 in the other game, Thomas Bruns quickly equalising for the Dutch side after a Guram Kashia own goal but the hosts ahead.

AC Milan dropped points for the first time in Group D as they were held to a goalless draw at home by AEK Athens.

But the Serie A giants still have a two goal lead over their Greek opponents, while in the group's other game Rijeka earned their first win, 3-1 away to Austria Vienna.

Inaki Williams stepped off the bench to scored in the 89th minute and secure Athletic Bilbao a 2-2 draw with Ostersunds at the Jamtkraft Arena, the Spanish club's first point of their Group J program.

Ostersunds, under English coach Graham Potter, remain top despite the deadlock, one point above Ukraine's Zorya Luhansk, who overcame Hertha Berlin 2-1 in Lviv.

Oleksandr Svatok netted the winner in the 79th minute to keep the German side on a single point through three games.

Real Sociedad inflicted a record 6-0 home defeat on Macedonia's Vardar with Willian Jose notching four successive goals in Skopje.

Zenit St Petersburg remain at the top of Group L, however, after Emiliano Rigoni scored a hat trick in a 3-1 victory over Rosenborg.

Lucas Ocampos and Maxime Lopez were on target as Marseille got their Group I campaign back on track with a 2-1 victory over Vitoria at the Stade Velodrome

But Salzburg's 2-0 win against Konyaspor in Konya keeps them top of the pool and stretched their unbeaten Europa League run to seven games.

Steaua Bucharest continue to control Group G after dispatching Hapoel Be'er Sheva 2-1 at the Turner Stadium through two goals from substitute Harlem Gnohere, Lugano staying in second place after edging Viktoria Plzen 3-2.

Group A leaders Villarreal and Slavia Prague fought out a 2-2 draw at the Estadio de la Ceramica, with all four goals being scored in the first half, while Astana thrashed Maccabi Tel-Aviv 4-0.

Two goals from Roger Assale enabled Young Boys to secure a 2-2 draw at Dynamo Kiev, who remain top of Group B. Skenderbeu and Partizan Belgrade played out a goalless draw.

Ludogorets tightened their grip on Group C by prevailing 2-0 at Braga, while Hoffenheim got off the mark with a 3-1 win against Istanbul Basaksehir.

The landscape of Group F remains unchanged as Zlin against Copenhagen and Sheriff versus Lokomotic Moscow both ended 1-1. The game at Zlin was stopped for about 15 minutes because of fog.

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