Chelsea were given a fright by Slavia Prague in a 4-3 home win on Thursday that saw them to a 5-3 aggregate victory and a place in the semi-finals of the Europa League.
Already 1-0 up from the first leg, Chelsea were cruisingwhen they scored three more goals in the first 17 minutes at Stamford Bridgecourtesy of Pedro, an own-goal by Simon Deli and Olivier Giroud and were 4-1ahead on the night at half-time.
But having been facing a rout, the Czech visitors restoredtheir pride with two early second-half goals from Petr Sevcik as theythreatened a remarkable comeback.
Chelsea, however, held on and the London club will faceEintracht Frankfurt for a place in the final after the German side beat Benfica2-0 to go through on away goals after the tie ended level at 4-4 after twolegs.
Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri made five changes from theteam beaten 2-0 by Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday and put Eden Hazardon the wing with Olivier Giroud the Blues’ central striker.
The Londoners doubled their aggregate lead just five minutesinto the second leg of this quarter-final tie thanks to Pedro’s neat finishafter a one-two with Giroud.
Minutes later, Chelsea had another goal.
Pedro produced a contender for miss of the season whenpresented with a tap-in from close range that came back off the post only forthe ball to fly into the face of Slavia defender Simon Deli and rebound intothe net for a bizarre own-goal.
Pedro then turned provider, squaring for Giroud to score his10th Europa League goal of the season.
Chelsea were cruising at 3-0 ahead on aggregate and itseemed Tomas Soucek had done no more than score a consolation goal when he roseunmarked to head in from a corner.
Chelsea though were soon three goals ahead again when Pedrobundled the ball in.
But Slavia rallied impressively after the interval, withSevcik’s 20-yard shot beating Kepa Arrizabalaga at the Chelsea goalkeeper’snear post.
And soon afterwards, in the 55th minute, Sevcik produced aneven better effort from similar range that flew into the top corner to giveSlavia hope of a remarkable recovery.
But that was as good as it got for the visitors, with Sevcikscuffing a shot that might have seen him complete what would have been anastonishing hat-trick.
Alexandre Lacazette scored the only goal as Arsenal dispatched Napoli 1-0 on Thursday to advance to the Europa League semi-finals 3-0 on aggregate. Lacazette’s stunning 36th-minute free-kick put the English club through to a final four meeting with Spanish side Valencia. “I dont know if it’s our best performance this season, but it’s good, particularly after beating Watford Monday,” said Arsenal coach Unai Emery. “Our objective was to score, we did that, to win, and to be consistent for 90 minutes. “I’m very proud of the players, very proud of our work. The players showed personality.”