Everton lose to Lyon, Giroud lifts Arsenal in UEFA Europa League
BARCELONA: Everton’s miserable Europa League run continued as they lost 2-1 at home to Olympique Lyonnais on Thursday and remained bottom of their group as Arsenal beat 10-man Red Star Belgrade 1- 0 thanks to an acrobatic late goal by Olivier Giroud.
Everton badly needed a win against Lyon after taking one point from their previous two games but they went behind in the sixth minute to a penalty by Nabil Fekir.
Ashley Williams headed them level in the 69th after being fortunate to only be yellow-carded for igniting a mass brawl when he shoved visiting goalkeeper Anthony Lopes.
Everton nearly went ahead when a Gilfi Sigurdsson free kick came off the far post but former Chelsea forward Bertrand Traore struck to restore Lyon’s lead, leaving Ronald Koeman’s side at the foot of Group E with one point from three games.
The Dutch coach is under pressure as his side have only won three games out of 12 in all competitions and are 16th in the Premier League standings.
“We always feel pressure, from ourselves and pressure from outside,” Everton defender Wil liams told reporters.
“It’s disappointing we didn’t get a result tonight because I felt we had a good attitude, and I thought we had a lot of chances.”
Serie A side Atalanta lead the group on seven points after beating Apollon Limassol.
Arsenal were given a fright in Belgrade when Richmond Boaqye hit the woodwork but they took advantage of Milan Rodic getting sent off in the 81st minute as Giroud leapt to scoop a cushioned header from Theo Walcott into the top corner, completing a sweeping move through the middle.
Arsenal top Group H with a maximum nine points from three games after returning to winning ways following their 2-1 defeat by Watford in the Premier League.
“It was a very difficult game amid high and heated intensity,” said Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger.
“The ( home crowd) support was absolutely amazing, it was fantastic. Red Star are a massive club with a big history and the people here know their football.” — Reuters