COMFORTABLE DRAW FOR BLUES, GUNNERS

CHELSEA go to Sweden’s Malmo and London rivals Arsenal head to Belarus’ BATE Borisov in the Europa League last 32 drawn yesterday.

Record five-time winners Sevilla have a tasty tie against Italy’s Lazio, crosstown rivals Real Betis play French side Rennes and Carlo Ancelotti’s Napoli were drawn to face Zurich at the Uefa headquarters in Lyon, Switzerland.

Arsenal recorded their biggest-ever win in Europe’s second tier event last year against BATE, thrashing them 6-0 at home and 4-2 away in the group stage.

They won the event in 1970 before it was officially recognised by Uefa and now hope to go all the way with coach Unai Emery, who led Sevilla to three straight titles 2014-2016.

Chelsea and Malmo have never met before but the Blues have fond memories of Sweden, winning the 1998 Cup Winners’ Cup final against German side VfB Stuttgart in Stockholm.

The other ties are Viktoria Plzen v Dinamo Zagreb, Club Brugge v last season’s semi-finalists Salzburg, Rapid Vienna v Inter Milan, Slavia Prague v Genk, Krasnodar v Bayer Leverkusen, a duel of former winners Shakhtar Donetsk v Eintracht Frankfurt, Celtic v Valencia, Olympiacos v Dynamo Kiev, Fenerbahce v Zenit St Petersburg, Sporting Lisbon v Villarreal and Galatasaray v Benfica.

Matches are played February 12/14 and February 20/21. The final is May 29 in Baku.