Arsene Wenger criticizes Arsenal players for losing to Chelsea in Europa League final

Arsene Wenger criticized Arsenal players for their "collapse" in the Europa League final against Chelsea earlier this week.

Unai Emery's team needed to win the final to qualify for next season's Champions League, but Maurizio Sarri's men sealed their 4-1 victory in Baku.

After a scoreless first half, Olivier Giroud opened the scoring in the 49th minute before a quick double from Pedro and Eden Hazard gave Chelsea a 3-0 lead.

Alex Iwobi scored an impressive long-term goal to give Arsenal a lifeline, but their hopes were quickly extinguished when Hazard scored his second goal of the match to restore Chelsea's three-goal cushion.

And Wenger admits he was not happy with the performance of Emery's players in the second half.

"I felt we had done very well in the first period but as soon as Chelsea scored the first goal, we completely collapsed," Wenger told BeIN Sports.

"In the second half, we did not exist, it was a sad night for us.

"After that, I agree that until the quarter-final of the Europa League, you play with a reserve team, while you play in England, because the Premier League is very demanding.

"I would even say in the Champions League group stage, when you have a tough match on the weekend, sometimes even in the group stage because you are about to qualify.

"The Premier League is so difficult that until the quarterfinals, the teams play with [players] who do not play in the Premier League.

"In recent years, it is still the team eliminated from the group stage of the Champions League who has won many years in the Europa League."