please log in to view this image Venue: Olympic Stadium Baku Date: Wednesday 29th May 2019 KO: 20:00 GMT Head to Head All: 197 Won: 77 Drawn: 57 Lost: 63 Last six meetings: Arsenal 2-0 Chelsea Chelsea 3-2 Arsenal Arsenal 2-2 Chelsea Arsenal 2-1 Chelsea (LC SF) Chelsea 0-0 Arsenal (LC SF) Chelsea 0-0 Arsenal please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Team News: More to follow...
Massive chance for us to win some Silverware and get back into the CL. We've done really well getting to the final, dispatching with Napoli and Valencia convincingly along with way. This is a huge game ! And if Emery can win it, it will make it a great first season in charge and something we can build on. Not only does it get us back into the CL, but it will help to build a winning mentality with these players and help the club to attract better players in the summer. We need to win it first though ....
We can never afford to write Chelsea off. They are a dangerous side with players that can hurt us like Hazard and Alonso. However I feel we have a great chance of beating them. They've not really been at their best this season. Also their desire will be called into question; they already have the CL. We don't. So the incentive for us to go and beat them will be greater.
Need to approach this game how we approached the FA Cup final a few years back - Hungry and with the idea of rescuing our season.
Arsenal will win the Europa League. I'll go as far as to say it will be a comfortable win. Not wumming at all. #bastards
Well, Henrikh Mkhitaryan will not be joining us because of safety concerns due to no diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia (which is where Mkhitaryan is from). https://www.arsenal.com/news/henrikh-mkhitaryan-miss-europa-league-final I think this is disgraceful. Why are UEFA picking host venues in places that potentially put people's lives at risk? It doesn't matter to me whether Mkhi is an important player or not, this is about principle. I know the venue was chosen a few years back, but it's not as if the Azerbaijan-Armenia situation is a recent phenomenon. If it was Messi or Ronaldo that had their lives in jeopardy, how much do you wanna bet UEFA would do everything in their power to switch venues? I think the club are well within their rights to boycott the final purely based on how stupid and careless UEFA have been. Not just in choosing Baku as a place to have a final, which was dumb for political, logistical and common sense reasons, but also how they've dealt with the criticism by trying to pretend everything is ok. Farcical doesn't even begin to cover it.
In such conditions, the final should never have been allocated to Azerbaijan. In fact, they shouldn’t be allowed into any UEFA/FIFA competition. Inclusion/Diversity has to be applied equally across the football world.
I wonder how much of this is Mkhi legitimately having safety concerns vs how much it is the club having safety concerns? Other Armenian players have played in Azerbaijan in other games. Im not so in-the-know on Azerbaijan-Armenian tensions, but part of me cant believe Mkhitaryan would want to miss a European Cup Final. Really bizarre situation overall; UEFA led by £££££ again.
It's not just about Micky; Armenian Arsenal fans have expressed their concerns about the final being held in Baku and some have had visas flat out rejected. They can't go. So I think the safety concerns of anyone with Armenian heritage is very valid. UEFA made a terrible decision choosing Baku to host the venue of a major event. Their pathetic responses deflecting responsibility and denying there's an issue have been just as bad, though. The allocation has been a joke, it's hard to get to, plane tickets are expensive and infrequent, local hotel prices have drastically risen too and, to top it all off, it excludes certain nationalities from entering the country because of a dispute over fake territorial lines. A really ****ty situation all-round.
The cost of going is ridiculously high and above most fans budget - there are no direct flights and the cost of hotels is mental. I don’t mind paying a bit extra as I would expect the prices to have risen because the final is there, but I do object to being fleeced so I am not going. If we think this is bad wait till you see what’s uefa have planned for next years Euros, with 12 cities hosting the games ie 2 cities per group, which means if you have a “follow your team” ticket means you will have to travel to two different countries for group games and four different countries if you progress to the semi finals. It takes the ****ing piss, so I will be arranging a trip in the sun in a villa with my mates to watch the group games and go to the Wembley games.