If we can believe the info from Andrew Mangin today, Arsenal have only sold 3000 tickets to its supporters, and Chelsea only 300?!! Maybe UEFA's 6000 per club allocation was in fact not too crazy. Maybe they knew all along that it was just too far, or just too difficult a place to get to logistically. So 6000 was more than sufficient. I'm be facetious of course. A sad state of affairs.
Yeah, members can only get 1 ticket because obviously its very limited. Nevermind travelling to Baku, on a few days notice, couldn't find a flight without basically a full day layover. In short it's shit, and of course its the final Arsenal get to.
OFFICIAL: Arsenal have confirmed Henrikh Mkhitaryan will not be travelling with the Arsenal squad for the Europa League final against Chelsea in Baku due to security concerns. pic.twitter.com/vjDjrOEPUk— Squawka Live (@Squawka_Live) May 21, 2019
WOW. Especially because I'd been hearing mostly reports about it having been worked out. But I also heard some Azerbaijani official implying that Arsenal were concerned for his safety. But I wondered at the time whether it was mostly Mkhi who was concerned. And now having looked up this https://www.arsenal.com/news/emery-mkhitaryan-missing-baku-final, it seems that Emery is saying just that... it was Mkhi's decision. But it totally sucks that he was forced to make such a decision and will therefore miss a cup final. And yet another blemish on UEFA's venue choice. p.s. Luckily for us (team and fans) losing Mkhi for this match isn't necessarily the biggest problem, as he hasn't exactly been on fire lately. And even thought they're different kind of players, it probably gives a little more impetus to start Ozil.
I just read the transcript of Emery's presser from Colney: https://www.arsenal.com/news/emery-chelsea-baku-ozil-full-transcript He says a ton of glowing praise for Cech. But it's a bit inscrutable... just not possible for me to parse whether he's praising him in preparation for picking him to start, or praising him to make it a softer landing if he picks Leno. Maybe he doesn't even know himself yet? And in addition to the Mkhi disappointment, he talked about the challenges of Baku, and he had this point to make that not every Gooner has to come from London, and by way of the club's official away ticket process. Good point Unai. I just hope the ones that show up know all the songs!!
OMG The sad thing is Armenia is a great country. I was once there on holiday, I met Eden Hazard and N’Golo Kantè they were both there to visit their grandparents— Richard (@R_GOONER) May 21, 2019
I'd be lying if I said I can remember this night 25 years ago. Or that I know if I even watched it at all (not sure there was any way to do that in the USA back then). But here's some highlights and reminiscence from Lee Dixon on our last European triumph: https://www.arsenal.com/news/it-was-relentless-rest-history
Here it is, the very kit I will be wearing come Matchday at noon PDT on TNT, with some Joihnsonville Brats all grilled and ready to tear shit up and stick that Blue Flag deep up Roman Abramovich's arse!!! Sorry Paul Hardcastle But don't worry Paul, it's only a football match, I still dig your music although I am on a self-imposed moratorium from listening to it until after the match is over. Then everything will be back to normal, but with us joining you, City, Liverpool (the soon-to-be-crowned new European Champions for the 6th time on June 1st), and Shit (the LOSERS of the UCL Final on June 1st) in the process, by the time we get done, Wolves will get to join United in Europa League in our place!!! COYF'n'G!!!
To further demonstrate how much smarter Arsenal fans are compared to Tottenham fans I give you this diagram for all of you to make out....... The brain on the right is that of a typical Arsenal fan, extremely intelligent, very bright, always upbeat and never ever bitter, especially now since Unai Emery has them going back on the right track again, as opposed to the brain on the left, in which is the typical brain of an average Tottenham fan, mainly from being so delusional about thinking that they are better than The Gunners when they've actually only won the league TWICE (period, 1951 and 1961), and not since 1961, as opposed to having us clinch the title twice on their shit football ground (1971 and 2004), in which the all-new/same old Shite Hart Lane is still laid upon, even after the remodel, it's still the same shit, so MIND THAT GAP!!! .....and COYF'n'G!!!
Arseblog reports that Keita Kante may miss the match. Hmm... edit: not sure I can blame that typo on old age or iphone dicatation
Kante, yes of course! Corrected. They are (or may be) missing quite a few significant players (Rudiger, Loftus-Cheeks, Hudson-Odoi, Kante, ??). But then again so are we (Ramsey, Bellerin, Holding) However, we've got a fit again Danny Welbeck on the bench, ready to save the day!
Another glimmer of positivity that they reported: Arsenal has already sold all 6000 of their allocation, whereas Chelsea have only sold 2000. Hmm... Edit: now I see sky sports saying Arsenal returned 2300 of 6000 tickets. So who knows?! Except to say that it will be a very poorly attended event by fans of the two contestants. So sad. Thank you UEFA.
Looked at the pictures of training sessions on Arsenel.com. One thing I noticed is that Kolasinac has his left knee (cap) taped up. Wonder what's that about?
Arsenal fans wearing Mhiki kits in Baku have been stopped by police. Nothing happened, they basically just G-checking fans wearing them. Yea, probably good idea he didn't go...
Hopefully Chelsea just throw in the towel tomorrow https://t.co/RnLhq8GskO— Cillian (@Giofaire) May 28, 2019 Higuain and Luiz seemed to clash in training then Sarri stormed down the tunnel throwing his hat to the floor. On the eve of a European final. Never a boring moment at Chelsea Football Club. Sarri’s reaction 👇 https://t.co/Y5nuhOyjjH— ✈️ (@Arrizabalager) May 28, 2019
Just watched today's training video. I had sorta forgotten that it's an Olympic stadium. So with the large distances to the pitch and the limited number of supporters from the 2 teams, the atmosphere could suck. p.s. I LOVED seeing Welbz back in full training, at full pace. I have a sneaking suspicion he might make a 2T cameo, either because we need to change the game or because we're well in control and can afford to swap out a starting forward.
3 more random thoughts: I really hope we play high intensity right from the get go, and press the crap out of them. I pray that we don't lose any CB's due to injury, so that Mustafi doesn't get even a sniff of this game. I think that Emery may have the edge over Sarri in how to manage big games, especially in-game changes. And 1 thing I heard: The Ornacle said that he's witnessed substantially more Arse fans wandering around Baku than Chelskis. They just all better come ready to sing!
Do you start Leno, who is in my opinion the better keeper, or start Cech, because he has been our cup keeper and it would be a nice send off? Hopefully we can be up by 5 goals and we can sub Cech off late to get him a round of applause.