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ALEX IWOBI SCORES IN ARSENAL’S 1-4 LOSS OF UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

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Nigeria’s Alex Iwobi’s goal was not enough as Chelsea overran their London rivals Arsenal in Baku in the all-England Europa Cup final.

Chelsea struck four times in the second half to hand Maurizio Sarri his first trophy as a coach. 

Arsenal edged the formative stages with Granit Xhaka’s drive from distance clipping the top of the bar before former Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Čech, playing the final game of his illustrious career, denied Emerson Palmieri and Olivier Giroud before the interval.

The contest needed a spark and Giroud provided it, darting in front of Laurent Koscielny to meet Emerson’s pinpoint delivery with a diving header. It was the French striker’s 11th of the campaign and sealed his poistion at the top of the scoring charts outright.

Eden Hazard had been a peripheral figure to that point but the Belgian schemer made his mark on the hour, cutting back a low cross that Pedro Rodríguez swept across Čech to give Sarri’s men breathing space.

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Two quickly became three when Hazard coolly dispatched a penalty after Ainsley Maitland-Niles barged over Giroud and, though substitute Alex Iwobi’s stunning drive gave the Gunners fleeting hope, Hazard iced the cake from Giroud’s nonchalant chip.

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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