It was strong end to the 2020/21 Europa League group stage for English clubs on Thursday as Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, and Leicester City completed their group games with rapturous victories.
Arsenal entertain in Ireland
Eddie Nketiah became Arsenal’s leading goalscorer this season as the Gunners ended the Europa League group stages with an entertaining win away to Dundalk.
With Mikel Arteta’s men misfiring domestically, the second string again showed them the way in a 4-2 victory at the Aviva Stadium.
Nketiah opened the scoring and Mohamed Elneny added a second before Jordan Flores pulled one back for the hosts.
Joe Willock and Folarin Balogun pulled Arsenal further clear after the break, although Dundalk would grab a late consolation through Sean Hoare.
Tottenham take top spot
Tottenham ensured they finished top of Group J in the Europa League with a 2-0 win over Royal Antwerp.
Spurs needed to beat the Belgian side to finish at the summit and secure a seeding for the next stage, and second-half goals from Carlos Vinicius and Giovani Lo Celso got the job done.
Jose Mourinho again saw his side produce a flat first-half performance, a key feature of their group campaign, but would have been happy with what he witnessed after the break.
Vinicius tapped in after Gareth Bale’s free-kick had been tipped onto the post and then Lo Celso buried Antwerp with a cool finish with 20 minutes to go.
Foxes in fine form
Leicester eased past AEK Athens 2-0 as they marched on in the Europa League to win their group.
Quickfire first-half goals from Cengiz Under and Harvey Barnes ensured the Foxes clinched top spot in Group G.
Brendan Rodgers’ side finished ahead of Braga, who beat Zorya Luhansk 2-0, and will be seeded in Monday’s draw for the last 32.
AEK Athens end their campaign bottom after losing five of their six games, including a 2-1 home defeat to the Foxes.
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