The Europa League final is here and two English teams are going to contest it far away from England in Baku on Wednesday. While Arsenal’s Champions League quest rests on this game, Chelsea’s Maurizio Sarri would be aiming to win the first trophy of his managerial career.
If we look at the past record, Unai Emery has a fantastic record of winning this competition. Hence, on that note, the Gunners should be feeling more confident going into this game.
However, Chelsea are a high-class team with top players in their squad, including the Belgian maestro Eden Hazard.
Thus, we can expect a very close encounter between the two London rivals.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek ruptured his Achilles in a friendly game three days after the final league game. He is out till December. Gary Cahill also has a slight Achilles problem, which may keep him out of the bench for the final.
Antonio Rudiger has been injured for a while and has no chance to feature on Wednesday. Callum Hudson-Odoi ruptured his Achilles tendon later on in the league campaign to be out until at least the end of July.
N’Golo Kante is set to miss the final due to a knee injury.
The Spaniard was Chelsea’s penalty shootout hero against Frankfurt in the semi-final. He is their first-choice keeper and should be in goal on Wednesday.
In the continual absence of Cahill, Azpilicueta is the club captain of this team and is a certain starter at right-back.
With Rudiger out, Christensen looks destined to start in central defence.
The Brazilian is one of the senior players in the team. He would be required to keep the defensive line together against a dangerous Arsenal attack.
Emerson has been selected ahead of Marcos Alonso in the past few weeks. Expect the same to happen in this game.
The Italian international is one of the key players in the Sarri-system, hence, he starts in defensive midfield without a shadow of a doubt.
With Kante out, Kovacic needs to step up and perform his best in this massive game.
With Loftus-Cheek out, Barkley is an expected replacement in the XI for this game.
Hudson-Odoi could have started had he been fit. Now, with him out, Willian may get a chance to showcase his talent on the big stage.
The Europa League’s top scorer of the season has to start the final. His physicality and ability to link up with Hazard can cause loads of problems to the Arsenal back line.
He is Chelsea’s talisman and their biggest hope of creating magic in the final third. One of the first names on the team sheet.
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