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Arsenal will play against Sporting CP , Azerbaijan side FK Qarabag and Ukriane's FC Vorskla Poltava in the group stage of the Europa League .
Unai Emery won the Europa League in three consecutive seasons at Sevilla and will try and build on the Arsenal's semi-final defeat against Atletico Madrid in last year's competition.
Their toughest opponents, Sporting CP, lost several high profile players for little compensation in the summer after a trophy-less season prompted a group of fans to attack several players and coaches at the training group. Rui Patricio moved to Wolves for free, Gelson Martins left for Atletico Madrid for nothing and William Carvalho completed a £18m move to Real Betis.
Show all 22 1 /22Chelsea vs Arsenal Player Ratings 18-08-2018 Chelsea vs Arsenal Player Ratings 18-08-2018 Kepa Arrizabalaga - 6 Could perhaps have been able to do more to stop Mkhitaryan’s strike in the first half. The ball was hit hard and low, he got a hand to it, but it still went in. A stronger arm may have kept that one out.
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Chelsea vs Arsenal Player Ratings 18-08-2018 Cesar Azpilicueta - 5 Absent for the first half and rarely got forward. Arsenal had a lot of joy on both wings and were able to get to the left byline far too easily. To say he’s struggling to play in a back four would not be an understatement.
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Chelsea vs Arsenal Player Ratings 18-08-2018 David Luiz - 6 Started a lot of forward moves by attacking the space in front of him and getting Chelsea playing from the back. His defending, like Chelsea’s, was a little ropey.
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Chelsea vs Arsenal Player Ratings 18-08-2018 Antonio Rudiger - 5 Chelsea defended really poorly as a team, and Rudgier was no exception to this.
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Chelsea vs Arsenal Player Ratings 18-08-2018 Marcos Alonso - 7 Showed good awareness to pick out Pedro for Chelsea’s opening goal. Like Azpilicueta, he looks like he is continuing to adapt to playing in a back four, and while his attacking play is very good, he does look a little exposed. Showed composure to score the winner.
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Chelsea vs Arsenal Player Ratings 18-08-2018 Jorginho - 8 Justifying his lofty price tag. He dominated the game from midfield and did so without really breaking a sweat. His range of passing was so precise and varied. Arsenal left lots of gaps in their defence and he found all of them.
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Chelsea vs Arsenal Player Ratings 18-08-2018 Ross Barkley - 6 Was lively and popped up in some good areas for Chelsea. Sarri has a lot of faith in the English midfielder, and Barkley almost repaid him with a goal from range but Cech was equal to his effort.
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Chelsea vs Arsenal Player Ratings 18-08-2018 N'Golo Kante - 7 Another typical Kante performance, he was everywhere. Sarri seems to be giving him more attacking responsibility, that’s increasing Chelsea’s options in the final third and helping them win the ball high up the pitch.
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Chelsea vs Arsenal Player Ratings 18-08-2018 Willian - 7 Is continuing to produce some really good stuff under Sarri, now he’s sorted himself out at Chelsea. His movement had his markers chasing shadows all evening.
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Chelsea vs Arsenal Player Ratings 18-08-2018 Pedro - 7 Like Willian, he was very tough to track for the Arsenal defenders, although he often left his defenders a little exposed, but who didn’t?
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Chelsea vs Arsenal Player Ratings 18-08-2018 Alvaro Morata - 7 Scored his second league goal of 2018 and you could tell how much it meant to him by his celebration. He ran at Mustafi one-on-one, worked the ball onto his right foot and slotted a finish into the bottom corner.
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Chelsea vs Arsenal Player Ratings 18-08-2018 Petr Cech - 6 Made a handful of good saves to keep out Chelsea’s shots from range. There was precious little he could do about any of the Chelsea goals, and was better with his feet than last week.
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Chelsea vs Arsenal Player Ratings 18-08-2018 Hector Bellerin - 4 Made a hilarious attempt to defend. Was exposed by Alonso, Pedro, Hazard, and anyone who wanted to get past him really. His forward play, however, was very good and he got into some very dangerous areas.
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Chelsea vs Arsenal Player Ratings 18-08-2018 Sokratis Papastathopoulos - 6 Made some vital block and interceptions, but he cannot score highly and be part of this Arsenal defence. That’s not happening.
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Chelsea vs Arsenal Player Ratings 18-08-2018 Shkodran Mustafi - 5 Continues to make you wonder how he’s managed to play at the top level for so long. Let Morata cut onto his right foot in the area, which resulted in his goal. Arsenal generally were a mess at the back and he has to take responsibility.
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Chelsea vs Arsenal Player Ratings 18-08-2018 Nacho Monreal - 6 Got into some really dangerous areas and created some very promising chances for Arsenal. His defending, however, was about as committed as Ozil’s tracking back.
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Chelsea vs Arsenal Player Ratings 18-08-2018 Granit Xhaka - 4 Picked up a yellow card in the first half and came off at half-time. Chelsea’s attacks passed him by and he didn’t have much of a say when Arsenal were in possession.
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Chelsea vs Arsenal Player Ratings 18-08-2018 Matteo Guendouzi - 5 Unai Emery has certainly shown a lot of faith in the youngster, but you feel there are better options. He was dispossessed a couple of times in dangerous areas, but continued to show adventure going forward.
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Chelsea vs Arsenal Player Ratings 18-08-2018 Henrikh Mkhitaryan - 7 Minutes after missing a sitter he took his goal very well. He started Arsenal’s first half comeback with a sweet low, curling effort from the edge of the area.
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Chelsea vs Arsenal Player Ratings 18-08-2018 Mesut Ozil - 5 One of Ozil’s ‘missing’ games. He came off after 70 minutes of not really doing an awful lot at Stamford Bridge. He played almost as a second striker, but no matter how hard he tried, there was no space for him in the final third.
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Chelsea vs Arsenal Player Ratings 18-08-2018 Alex Iwobi - 7 Took his goal very well, but that was the extent of his good work. A lot of his play ended with a wayward pass, a tackle or a shot going wide.
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Chelsea vs Arsenal Player Ratings 18-08-2018 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - 4 Missed two sitters, and we’re talking proper sitters, in front of goal. If he scored them, we could well be talking about an Arsenal win. The timing of his runs was also off, he was caught offside more times than he needed to be. Can do better.
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Qarabag began their qualifying campaign in July but were in Chelsea's group in last year's Champions League where they secured two shock draws against Atletico.
The Gunners were also handed an arduous draw against FC Vorskla Poltava, who play in east Ukraine.
Unai Emery will target his fourth Europa League win as a manger with Arsenal (Getty) It means that in total, Arsenal will face just under 8,000 miles of flights in the Europa League group stage this season just to play their three away games, maximising the impact of the Thursday-Sunday schedule that has such a drastic impact on teams playing in the European second-tier competition.
Matches begin 20 September and conclude 13 December.
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