Chelsea will go straight into pot one of next campaign’s Champions League after they defeated London rivals Arsenal in the Europa League final on Wednesday night.
After a goalless first half, the Blues were fired up in the second half when former Gunner Olivier Giroud headed in a cross from Emerson Palmieri to open the scoring against his old team.
A good finish from Pedro made it 2-0 for Chelsea, with a penalty from the Belgian Eden Hazard then making it three.
Alex Iwobi’s incredible strike just moments after coming on at least gave some hope for Unai Emery’s men, but that was quickly extinguished when Hazard scored his second of the match to make it 4-1.
The win means Chelsea return to the Champions League after a year away, and will be in pot one in 2019/20 along with Barcelona , Bayern Munich, Juventus , Manchester City , Paris Saint-Germain, Zenit St Petersburg, and whichever club wins the Champions League final on Saturday.
The losers of the all-English Champions League final will be in pot two next season.
Although Maurizio Sarri’s Chelsea team were already guaranteed to take part in the Champions League after finishing third in the Premier League, they will now take the spot as Europa League holders.
The result also means that Arsenal, Manchester United and Wolves will be England’s representatives in the Europa League for next campaign.
Arsenal and United will go straight into the group stages of the Europa League with Wolves playing in the qualifying stages.
