HUMILIATION
Arsenal beaten by Belarus minnows as Lacazette sees red
UNAI EMERY condemned Alexandre Lacazette last night after the striker saw red during Arsenal’s horror defeat by BATE Borisov.
On a night when Chelsea eased the pressure on manager Maurizio Sarri by winning 2-1 in Malmo, Arsenal mustered a feeble display in Belarus, slumping to a shock defeat courtesy of Stanislav Dragun’s goal.
Lacazette was sent off for elbowing Aleksandar Filipovic and Emery said: ‘We need to control the frustration. It’s bad. Next week we won’t have him, but there is a chance for another player.’ Lacazette last
night apologised for his actions, writing on Twitter: ‘Letting the team down like that is the worst feeling. I should have stayed calm but it’s not always easy. Sorry.’ His boss Emery is still confident Arsenal will overturn the deficit in next week’s return leg. ‘We play another 90 minutes next week and I’m sure it’s going to be different,’ he said. ‘We worked. I am happy with players’ effort. Our big opportunity is next week at home. Today is not the result we wanted. We deserved more but they worked for this. Next week is going to be different. ‘I trust in our players and in our stadium with our supporters. We can win or lose, but we play the second match and I trust in our work and preparations to make a different result. ‘I am not shocked. I knew before the match it would be two games. We wanted to get the best result. I respect them and watched matches they played. ‘They are defensively well organised. We worked to stop them, but they scored one. ‘In attacking moments we had more chances than them but the last action was not efficient. ‘We did all (we could) to win. It’s the first 90 minutes. But we know it’s more difficult, we prefer a better result.’ Arsenal lacked creativity against BATE, raising further questions over why Emery appears to have frozen Mesut Ozil out of his plans. Ozil didn’t travel to Belarus despite recovering from the illness that ruled him out of Saturday’s win over Huddersfield. But Emery added: ‘Today those that were here, we can win with them and we deserved that. ‘Last week we won and we played with the same players. ‘It’s not for one player or another player. We can win with every player and lose with the same players.’