Europa League: Group H
COLOGNE 1 (Guirassy 62 pen)
ARSENAL 0

ARSENAL qualified for the knockout stage of the Europa League as Group H winners last night (Thursday) despite losing away to Cologne.

French striker Sehrou Guirassy won, and then converted, a contentious penalty on 62 minutes as Arsene Wenger’s side became only the second team that the German’s have beaten in 17 Bundesliga and Europa League games this season.

However, it wasn’t all doom and gloom for the Gunners as they finished top of their group after Bate Borisov and Red Star Belgrade battled out a goalless draw.

A frustrated Wenger praised the home supporters after the match. “We lost the game to one shot, basically,” he said. “It was a very nice penalty that we have to take on board. But, if you ask me, honestly, it was not a penalty.

“We missed a bit of the accuracy in our passing in the final third that is required to score goals. We had plenty of dangerous situations but we always missed a little something.

“I must also say that Cologne defended with spirit, with commitment, and overall the crowd was absolutely fantastic for them.”

Wenger changed the entire starting XI from the side that beat Tottenham on Saturday in the north London derby, with forward Danny Welbeck returning from a groin injury to partner Olivier Giroud in attack.

The second-string dominated proceedings as they enjoyed 69 per cent of the possession, most of which they spent probing for openings and trying to come to terms with the bobbly pitch.

Their best chance of the game saw Francis Coquelin get as close as he’s ever been to a first goal in Arsenal colours with a rasping shot that came back off the post.

In the end the north Londoners paid a heavy price for failing to make their dominance count as Cologne scored a controversial winner.

Guirassy tumbled over in the box with Debuchy in close attention, and referee Vladislav Bezborodov deemed it worthy of a penalty. Guirassy picked himself up to smash the spot-kick past David Ospina.

ARSENAL: Ospina, Debuchy (Nketiah, 84), Mertesacker, Holding, Chambers (Nelson, 67), Coquelin, Elneny, Maitland-Niles, Welbeck (Iwobi, 45), Wilshere, Giroud.
Substitutes not used: Macey, Akpom, Sheaf, Willock.

COLOGNE: Timo Horn, Sorensen, Maroh (Rausch, 36), Mere, Klunter, Ozcan, Jojic, Jannes Horn, Cordoba (Olkowski, 56), Osako (Lehmann, 73), Guirassy.
Substitutes not used: Kessler, Risa, Nartey, Bisseck.