Gunners fail to fire and Toffees come unstuck

Arsenal still progress, while Everton fail to find consolation

COLOGNE 1 ARSENAL 0

Arsenal fell to a narrow defeat at Cologne last night but will still progress into the knockout stages of the Europa League as Group H winners.

An uninspiring evening at the impressive RheinEnergieStadion saw the Bundesliga’s bottom club secure a 1-0 win through Sehrou Guirassy’s second-half penalty to keep their own qualification hopes alive.

On the back of a morale-boosting victory over north London neighbours Tottenham at the weekend, Arsene Wenger’s second string could not maintain the feel-good factor for long.

Defeat here ended a perfect run in this competition so far this season but, following a draw between Red Star Belgrade and Bate Borisov in the group’s other game, the Gunners will finish top.

Much of this game followed the same pattern as the drab goalless draw at home to Red Star in their last Europa League outing, as Wenger again made 11 changes.

The impact of his youngsters, as well as the likes of Jack Wilshere and Olivier Giroud, has stagnated in recent games in this competition as they all aim to make the step up to Wenger’s Premier League side.

Wenger introduced Alex Iwobi at the interval as Danny Welbeck, only just back from a groin injury, made way.

The second half was similar to the first in terms of a lack of quality and it was hardly surprising that the opening goal of the game came from the penalty spot.

Guirassy went down under pressure from Mathieu Debuchy and slotted the resulting spot-kick home.

Arsenal face a final group game at home to Bate in a fortnight, although the outcome will have a bigger bearing on Cologne’s ambitions than their own. Everton’s season – like their search for a manager – continues to drift apparently rudderless after an insipid display in the 5-1 defeat against Atalanta.

There was nothing riding on the game for the already-eliminated Toffees but the visitors found it too easy as they secured qualification, even discounting a missed penalty from captain Alejandro Gomez, with two goals from Bryan Cristante early in each half.

Sandro Ramirez’s first strike for the club he joined in the summer gave the hosts something to fight for late on but goals from subs Andreas Cornelius (two) and Robin Gosens in the closing stages typified Everton’s haplessness.

Caretaker coach David Unsworth’s evaluation of the game’s importance was evident in nine changes – retaining only Michael Keane and Jonjoe Kenny from Saturday’s draw at Crystal Palace – that saw Davy Klaassen make his first start since being hauled off at half-time against Lyon a month ago and Sandro in the XI for the first time since September 28.

Everton lacked purpose, and their shape could at best be described as fluid, at worst shambolic.

Pictures: Getty. Left: Sehrou Guirassy of Cologne fires home the penalty that defeated the Gunners, who had already qualified for the knockout stages. Right: Timoty Castagne of Atalanta holds off Wayne Rooney as Everton went down 5-1.