There are now just six days to go before Arsenal and Chelsea face off in the Europa League final and a stream of reports are coming in thick and fast covering everything from team selection, fan issues, UEFA incompetence and so forth and we will now be doing a daily update of what is being reported.
Arsenal has sold just 3500 tickets out of their measly 6000 allocation with the rest being returned to UEFA. The ridiculous cost of getting to Baku has resulted in many fans being excluded from a major European trophy thanks to the utter incompetence of European footballs governing body.
Azerbaijan are playing the victim following Henrikh Mkhitaryan correct decision to not risk his safety. Azerbaijan’s ambassador to the UK has accused Mkhitaryan of “trying to make a political statement” by declining to visit a country that is effectively at war with his own nation.
Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi has made it clear the whole team wants to win the Europa League for Mkhitaryan following his decision to miss the final due to security concerns.
“It’s a shame for him not to be there, especially as he has often played on the way to the final, but our team has that in mind: We also want to win for Micki,” Mustafi told Kicker.
Arsenal fans have launched an online petition to have the Europa League final moved from Baku to Wembley Stadium. The reasoning behind the petition is the exclusion of Mkhitaryan making Baku an unfit location to hold a major European final
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has also come out in support of Mkhitaryan saying “We know it is a big shame but we respect his decision. It is not easy for him to go there because of political problems. It is a big shame but now we have one more motivation to win”
Former Arsenal legend David Seaman has urged Unai Emery not to pick Petr Cech over Bernd Leno for the final because he feels that the German is simply the better player.
Armenia and Azerbaijan conflict is unfortunate for Arsenal and Mkhitaryan, but Ozil would give us more local supporters in Baku
Cech should have rejected to start if he doesn’t want heavy pressure. I believe we would see a surprise in the GK position
It’s such a shame, I really hope all through this, the team won’t bulge to the pressure. We really need to win this, it’s a must, we have no choice, we can’t take the L come Wednesday.
Winning this will really help the team spirit and mentality next season.
UEFA can go fvck themselves, UEFA, FIFA, both corrupt and dirty
I believe Arsenal and Chelsea should of protested and not played in the final unless it was moved on the fact that fans cannot make it let alone Henrikh MKHITARYAN.
I believe Henrikh has made the right decision yet even with him not going it now brings attention to our players as it’s now all over the Internet and sports news.
It’s a dangerous country for our team to be in with attention already on our boys and on top of it our own spporters can’t be there must be effecting the mentality of the team as we know what Arsenal can be like when we get the shakes.
Henrikh hasn’t been a world beater since he’s been with us but he definitely has his moments when he turns it on and he can do that. This is probably his last final in his career and I’m sure he would’ve been on fire he would’ve of been a good option of the bench say if Ozil doesn’t show up on that note this could.likely be his last final as well as koscielny so I can imagine they put a shift like they did in the FA cup final against Chelsea.
As long as we hold our nerve we’re a nervous team when it matters most but Arsenal always do the unpredictable so good luck lads.
Arsenal Forever.