Olivier Giroud scored a fantastic late winner as Arsenal edged to its third straight Europa League win by beating 10-man Red Star Belgrade 1-0 in Serbia on Thursday.
Arsene Wenger’s men rode their luck at times in an uninspiring performance, before Giroud struck in the 85th minute after Red Star had seen Milan Rodic sent off.
The Premier League side stays top of Group H, five points clear of Red Star, while Cologne remained pointless after losing 1-0 at BATE Borisov.
Everton bans fan
Everton on Friday banned a fan who appeared to try and strike a Lyon player while holding a child during their Europa League tie as UEFA opened disciplinary proceedings following the crowd trouble at Goodison Park.
The ugly scenes on Thursday erupted after Ashley Williams barged into Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes midway through the second half of the 2-1 victory for the French side, sparking a melee.
That skirmish moved to pitch-side advertising hoardings, at which point a man carrying a child pushed Lopes in the head before hitting out at him again.
Important results: Group A: Villarreal 2 (Trigueros 41, Bacca 44) drew with Slavia Prague 2 (Necid 18, Danny 30). Group C: Hoffenheim 3 (Hubner 52, Amiri 59, Schulz 75) bt Istanbul Basaksehir 1 (Napoleoni 90+3). Group D: AC Milan 0 drew with AEK Athens 0; Everton 1 (Williams 69) lost to Lyon 2 (Fekir 6-pen, Traore 75).
Group H: Red Star Belgrade 0 lost to Arsenal 1 (Giroud 85); BATE 1 (Rios 55) bt Cologne 0. Group J: Zorya Luhansk 2 (Silas 42, Svatok 79) bt Hertha Berlin 1 (Selke 56); Ostersund 2 (Gero 52, Edwards 64) drew with Athletic Bilbao 2 (Aduriz 14, Williams 89). Group K: Nice 1 (Balotelli 4) lost to Lazio 3 (Caicedo 5, Milinkovic-Savic 65, 89). Group L: Vardar Skopje 0 lost to Real Sociedad 6 (Oyarzabal 12, Willian Jose 34, 42, 55, 59, de La Bella 90) .
