Arsenal missed out on a top-four finish and saw Laurent Koscielny sent off as they defeated Everton 3-1 at the Emirates Stadium.

Arsene Wenger made three alterations to the team who beat Sunderland 2-0 in midweek, with Danny Welbeck, Koscielny and Gabriel back in the starting line-up.

There was one change to the Toffees starting XI, with Ross Barkley dropping out to be replaced by Enner Valencia.

The hosts made a flying start, with Welbeck almost turning home a Hector Bellerin cross after little more than a minute.

Nine minutes in Welbeck failed to convert a Mesut Ozil cross from the left, but Bellerin arrived right on cue at the far post to drive the ball home and make the score 1-0 to the home side.

However, five minutes later the Gunners were down to ten men as centre-back Koscielny was late with a crunching challenge on Valencia and was shown a straight red card.

The Toffees threw on Barkley to try and take advantage of the extra man, but within two minutes of that change they were 2-0 down, as a deflected shot was collected by Welbeck, who calmly set up Alexis Sanchez for a tap-in.

Everton pushed for a goal to get back in the game, testing Petr Cech on several occasions, including a fine tip-over from a Romelu Lukaku header.

Early in the second half Joel Robles kept out first Welbeck and then Ozil as the hosts pushed for a third goal, but they were then dealt another defensive blow as Gabriel was stretchered off to be replaced by Per Mertesacker.

The Toffees then gained a lifeline as Nacho Monreal handled a Leighton Baines cross and Lukaku made no mistake from the penalty spot, despite Cech going the right way.

Valencia then saw a header ruled out for a push, before a struggling Sanchez was replaced by Alex Iwobi.

The visitors continued to push for an equaliser as time ticked away, although Iwobi missed two chances to make the game safe for the Londoners.

However, the game was over in stoppage time as Ozil beat a couple of men on the left and his pass was taken on by Ramsey, who curled a right-footer into the far top corner of the net.