It was goal thrillers in some of the Europa matches played on Thursday
Theo Walcott scored twice and Olivier Giroud notched his 100th Arsenal goal as the Londoners notched a second successive Europa League win, 4-2, at BATE Borisov.
After 10 minutes, Wenger’s side had the advantage when Jack Wilshere burst into the box and Theo Walcott’s header was half-stopped by Denis Scherbitski before he made sure from point-blank range.
The home side burst into life after 20 minutes when Giroud lost possession and Mirko Ivanic shot narrowly wide from outside the box when a cross was half cleared.
Within three minutes, however, they were two down as Walcott struck again, accepting a gift when Scherbitski’s terrible attempt to pass the ball out of his area gave him the chance to roll a finish inside the post.
After 25 minutes it was 3-0 when Borisov failed to deal with the resulting corner and Per Mertesacker’s header went in off Rob Holding for his first Arsenal goal.
But out of the blue Borisov pulled one back within two minutes, Alexei Rios sending in a good cross from the right that was headed home by Ivanic.
Three minutes into the second half, Giroud had his landmark goal and Arsenal their fourth when what looked like the softest of penalty awards for a challenge by Stanislav Dragun on Shkodran Mustafi gave him the chance to roll home from the penalty spot.
And with a little over 20 minutes remaining, the hosts were on the scoresheet again, Mikhail Gordeichuk taking advantage of defensive confusion to hammer home from close range.
They should have made it 4-3 only for Aliaksandr Volodko, unmarked near the penalty spot, to blaze a first-time effort over the top.
But as the game entered its final 10 minutes, Borisov’s belief faded and Giroud and Wilshere threatened to add further goals for Arsenal.
Everton were pegged back late by 10-man Apollon Limassol to remain at the foot of the Group E table after a 2-2 draw at Goodison Park.
Wayne Rooney cancelled out Adrian Sardinero’s 12th-minute opener in the 21st, when he ran onto an awful back-pass to Apollon keeper Bruno Vale and finished into the empty net.
Nikola Vlasic’s goal looked to have given Ronald Koeman’s men their first points of the campaign, and the win looked further cemented when Valentin Roberge was send off four minutes from time.
However, Hector Yuste snatched the equaliser for the visitors just two minutes later, heading home Joao Pedro’s cross from a set piece much to the dismay of the Goodison faithful.
AC Milan lost a 2-0 lead at the San Siro but found an injury time winner to earn a 3-2 victory over Croatian champions HNK Rijeka in the Europa League.
Milan were in front with 14 minutes on the clock as Andre Silva struck, making room for himself inside the area after cutting in from the left and arrowing a fine finish past Simon Sluga.
And Rijeka were made to pay once more when, after 53 minutes, Milan struck again as a corner fell for defender Mateo Musacchio, who scored from close range.
Milan seemed set to control the rest of a low-key second half — but with six minutes remaining, things changed when substitute Maxwell Acosty halved the deficit.
It seemed that Milan would be denied but, in the third of five added minutes, Cutrone steered home a fine finish to break the visitors’ hearts
Meanwhile, Nice made it two wins from two rounds in Group K with a 3-0 victory over Vitesse Arnhem on a night the lights temporarily went out at the French club’s ground — a brace from Alassane Plea and a further strike from Allan Saint-Maximin doing the damage for Lucien Favre’s side.
Lazio edged past Zulte-Waregem 2-0 to join Nice at the top of the group. Felipe Caicedo scored the decisive goal in the 18th minute, while Ciro Immobile added insurance at the death.
In Group I, Marseille fell to RB Salzburg 1-0 in Salzburg to end their unbeaten run in Europe at six matches. Moanes Dabour bagged the winning goal from the spot in the 73rd minute.
In the group’s other match, Konyaspor dumped Guimaraes 2-1 through goals from Musa Araz and Deni Milosevic in either half. Paolo Hurtado got the consolation goal for the visitors.
In Group L, Zenit St Petersburg saw off Real Sociedad 3-1 in St Petersburg. A brace from Aleksandr Kokorin and a further strike from Emiliano Rigoni paced the Russians, while Diego Llorente collected the consolation goal for the visitors.
In the other match, Rosenborg raced past Vardar by the same scoreline — ex-Arsenal man Nicklas Bendtner scoring from the spot to start the rout in the 25th minute.
Cologne couldn’t find an equaliser as Red Star Belgrade ran out 1-0 winners in Group H’s other match. Richmond Boakye’s 30th-minute goal carried the visitors across the finish line, putting them two points behind Arsenal in second.
In Group J, Athletic Bilbao fell to FC Zorya Luhansk 1-0 in Bilbao thanks to a goal from Ihor Kharatin in the 26th minute, while Ostersunds FK similarly stunned German side Hertha Berlin 1-0 in Sweden to assume the group lead.
Astana maintained their strong home record with a 1-1 draw against Slavia Prague in Group A.
Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui put the visitors ahead in the 18th minute before Marin Tomasov answered three minutes before half-time.
In Group G, Steaua Bucharest edged FC Lugano 2-1, while Viktoria beatHapoel Be’er 3-1.
