Europa League: Arsenal, Milan victorious, Everton held

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Bengaluru, September 29: A brace from Theo Walcott helped Arsenal get the better of BATE Borisov away from home and move atop of Group H in the Europa League on Thursday (September 28).

Also among the scorers for the Gunners were Rob Holding with his first goal for the club and Olivier Giroud scored his 100th that gave Arsene Wenger's side all three points with a 4-2 win in Belarus.

The Gunners boss stuck to his promise to hand his squad players the chance to impress, with Jack Wilshere involved, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Reiss Nelson starting at wing-back and midfielder Joe Willock given a place in the senior starting line-up for the first time.

Wilshere was especially effective early on and set up Walcott to prod in the opener before the forward capitalised on a goalkeeper howler to double the visitors' lead.

Holding converted from point-blank range before Mirko Ivanic got a goal back in a breathless first half hour.

In the secon half, Giroud's penalty restored Arsenal's three-goal advantage, despite Mikhail Gordeychuk setting up something of an anxious last 20 minutes.

The other English club in the Europa, Everton recovered from an early setback to pick up a point against Apollon Limassol at Goodison Park.

Ronald Koeman's men were behind inside fifteen minutes when Adrian Sardinero Corpa was picked out unmarked in the centre and his shot trickled over the line as Jordan Pickford got a hand to it, but failed to keep it out.

Wayne Rooney put his recent controversies off-the-pitch behind him, capitalising on a poor backpass to poke the ball into an empty net and restore parity in the contest minutes later.

It was Croatian teenager Nikola Vlasic's moment in the second half as he showed composure beyond his years to finish expertly and give his side the lead.

Elsewhere, AC Milan almost saw a lacklustre performance punished by minnows HNK Rijeka from Croatia in the Europa League group stage - blowing a two-goal lead in the final ten minutes - before running out 3-2 winners following an injury time goal from Patrick Cutrone.

While, former Manchester City striker Felipe Caicedo was on target along with Ciro Immobile in Rome, as Lazio edged out Belgian outfit Zulte-Waregrem 2-0 in Group K, while Nice were the other winners with Alassane Plea at the double in a 3-0 success over Vitesse Arnhem.

It was a good night for 2008 UEFA Cup champions Zenit St. Petersburg, as they powered past Real Sociedad 3-1 in Russia with Aleksandr Kokorin scoring twice and former Chelsea favourite Branislav Ivanovic featuring in their lineup.

By contrast, Athletic Bilbao suffered the ignominy of a 1-0 home reverse to Ukrainians Zorya Luhansk with Aritz Aduriz, Inaki Williams and the rest floundering as the Basque team failed to score at home in Europe for the first time since 2014.

Marseille were also on the end of an embarrassing defeat as they went down 1-0 away to Red Bull Salzburg.

Former Sunderland defender Valentin Roberge saw red towards the end but that did not stop Hector Yuste from snatching an equaliser for the visitors, in another huge blow to the Merseysiders in their poor start to the season. The Toffees lost 3-0 at Atalanta last time out.

Lyon held the Italians to a 1-1 draw in the other match in Group E, with former Chelsea forward Bertrand Traore on the scoresheet for Les Gones there.