Chelsea maintained their perfect start to the season after Brazil forward Willian scored in a 1-0 Europa League victory against PAOK on Thursday.
Sitting atop the Premier League with five wins from five games, Chelsea rested Eden Hazard after the Belgium playmaker registered a hat-trick in a 4-1 win against Cardiff City on Saturday.
The dominant team run by Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri should have scored a hatful of goals.
Photo: Reuters
The out-of-form Alvaro Morata wasted several chances after captain Willian had finished off a speedy counterattack in the seventh minute following good work from Ross Barkley.
“We played very well, were in control of the match, and it would have been difficult for anybody to play against us this evening,” Sarri said.
Off the field, two Chelsea supporters were injured in an attack by suspected local fans shortly before dawn in Thessaloniki.
Police said that two Englishmen were beaten by three assailants in central Thessaloniki.
An ambulance crew provided first aid, but the men declined to be taken to hospital.
The three assailants escaped and police said the fans of the London club did not wish to press charges.
Also in Group L, BATE Borisov of Belarus won 2-0 against Videoton in Hungary.
Arsenal, with former Sevilla coach Unai Emery now in charge, defeated Ukraine’s Vorskla Poltava 4-2 thanks to a double from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Aubameyang opened the scoring for Arsenal in the 32nd minute when he converted an Alex Iwobi cross. Danny Welbeck headed in a cross from Henrikh Mkhitaryan before Aubameyang made it 3-0 with a precise shot from outside the area.
Substitute Mesut Ozil added the fourth goal from close range, but Vorskla reduced the arrears thanks to captain Volodymyr Chesnakov and Vyacheslav Sharpar.
Also in Group E, Sporting scored twice in the second half to sink Qarabag 2-0.
In Group A, Bayer 04 Leverkusen rallied from two goals down to win 3-2 against Ludogorets Razgrad in Bulgaria and Zurich beat AEK Larnaca 1-0, while in Group B Celtic beat Rosenborg 1-0 and Red Bull Salzburg had a 3-2 victory against RB Leipzig.
In Group C, Slavia Praha downed Girondins de Bordeaux 1-0 and Zenit St Petersburg beat Copenhagen 1-0, while in Group D Dinamo Zagreb beat Fenerbahce 4-1 and Spartak Trnava beat RSC Anderlecht 1-0.
AC Milan edged past F91 Dudelange of Luxembourg 1-0. Dudelange, the first team from Luxembourg to reach the Europa League group stage, did well to keep Milan out until Gonzalo Higuain struck the only goal of the game in the 59th minute.
Also in Group F, Olympiakos and Real Betis Balompie drew 0-0.
Rangers recovered from conceding a first-minute goal to draw 2-2 against Villarreal, while Rapid Vienna beat Spartak Moscow 2-0 in the other Group G game.
Eintracht Frankfurt opened their campaign by upsetting Olympique de Marseille 2-1 in Group H, while SS Lazio defeated Apollon Limassol 2-1.
In Group I, KRC Genk defeated Malmo 2-0 and Besiktas eased past newcomers Sarpsborg 08 3-1.
In Group J, goals from Ever Banega and Wissam Ben Yedder led Sevilla, the most successful team in Europa League history, to a 5-1 thrashing of Standard Liege and Russian club Krasnodar won 1-0 against Akhisar Belediyespor in Turkey.
In Group K, Dynamo Kyiv drew with Astana 2-2 and Stade Rennais defeated Jablonec 2-1.
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