Arsenal's 3-1 win over Everton was not enough to
secure Champions League qualification and, to
make matters worse, Arsene Wenger faces a
potential selection crisis ahead of the FA Cup final.
Alexis Sanchez, Laurent Koscielny and Gabriel
could all miss Saturday's Wembley clash with
Premier League champions Chelsea following a
desperately disappointing day for the Gunners at
Emirates Stadium, despite their victory.
Following Hector Bellerin's early opener, Koscielny
was shown a straight red card for a wild lunge on
Enner Valencia and, after Sanchez had doubled the
lead, Gabriel was taken off on a stretcher with a
left knee injury after an awkward fall.
Sanchez then hobbled off midway through the
second half, in what may yet prove a further blow
to Arsenal's hopes of salvaging something from
their season.
Aaron Ramsey's superb 91st-minute strike at least
enabled Wenger's men to finish their league
campaign on a stylish note, after Romelu Lukaku
had halved Everton's two-goal deficit with a
penalty - the Belgian's 25th Premier League strike
of the season.
However, after taking their place at European club
football's top table in each of the past 19 seasons,
Arsenal end 2016-17 in fifth after Liverpool
overcame Middlesbrough 3-0 to seal the all-
important fourth place. Everton finish seventh
in Ronald Koeman's first campaign in charge.
Arsenal were hanging on prior to their third goal,
but began the match brightly and were ahead as
Mesut Ozil combined with Ramsey and found
space on the left byline, where he squared for
Danny Welbeck.
The striker somehow contrived to send the ball
away from goal from three yards, but his blushes
were spared as it fell perfectly for Bellerin to rifle
home into the unguarded net.
The Gunners suffered a setback just six minutes
later, though, with Koscielny dismissed for his
reckless challenge as Valencia raced away down
the right.
Koeman introduced Ross Barkley in place of Tom
Davies to exploit the extra space available, but
within two minutes Arsenal doubled their
advantage with another touch of fortune.
Sanchez's shot from outside the box struck
Welbeck and, as the Everton defence appeared to
stop, the forward had time to tee up Sanchez to tap
home with Joel Robles stranded.
Everton looked more dangerous as the interval
approached - four players going close in a mad
scramble in the 38th minute before Petr Cech made
an excellent save to keep out Lukaku's header.
The Belgian sent a weak header straight at Cech
soon after the resumption, before Robles excelled
with a double save to deny Welbeck and Ozil.
Gabriel then departed on a stretcher to deepen
Arsenal's defensive crisis, Per Mertesacker entering
the fray for his first action of the season. His first
start could well come against Chelsea at Wembley
in six days.
Arsenal felt the numbers should have been evened
up when Ashley Williams - already booked -
escaped a second yellow for a trip on Welbeck and
Everton were soon back in it when Rob Holding
inexplicably handled Leighton Baines' harmless
cross and Lukaku clinically converted the resulting
penalty.
Robles denied Ozil and substitute Alex Iwobi but he
could do nothing about Ramsey's sublime curling
effort in stoppage time as a troubling day for
Wenger at least ended on a positive note.
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