Arteta heartened ahead of Prague return leg

LONDON • Arsenal kept alive their slim hopes of playing in Europe next season via a Premier League finish after a 3-0 win at Sheffield United, which all but condemned the hosts to relegation.

Alexandre Lacazette nabbed a brace and Gabriel Martinelli, with his first goal of the campaign, added another on Sunday to lift the visitors to ninth in the standings, 10 points behind West Ham (55), who occupy the final Champions League spot.

The Blades, however, remain rooted to the bottom on 14 points, 18 adrift of safety with seven games remaining, and their two-season stay in the top flight could come to an end should they lose at Wolves on Saturday and other results go against them.

Gunners manager Mikel Arteta was pleased with his team's performance and notably with keeping a clean sheet ahead of Thursday's Europa League quarter-final return leg at Slavia Prague after a 1-1 draw at the Emirates.

"I am really happy with the way we played. We scored some really nice goals and controlled the game the way we wanted," he said. "This is ideal preparation for Thursday. It has been a long run without a clean sheet. We played at a high level. From the start, I felt the boys were at it, we were efficient."

Lacazette, Arsenal's top scorer this term with 15 strikes in all competitions, added: "It was important we won and it was a great day for us. I missed an easy chance on Thursday (in the first leg) and so I wanted to score.

"The confidence was lacking a little bit. We know we have the quality but sometimes, we miss a little bit at both ends of the pitch."

However, Arteta rued yet another injury at Bramall Lane, with his side's casualty list growing each week.

Bukayo Saka had to be taken off with a thigh issue and with David Luiz, Kieran Tierney, Martin Odegaard and Emile Smith Rowe already out for the trip to Prague, the Spaniard admitted he could not afford "to lose another one".

Sheffield United interim coach Paul Heckingbottom, who suffered his third straight defeat since replacing Chris Wilder, conceded his players had nothing left to play for but pride.

"Seven more games and we won't be given anything," he said after their 25th league loss of the season.

REUTERS