Arsenal vs Chelsea, Europa League Final Live

Arsenal will be taking on Chelsea in this season Europa league final at Baku in Azerbaijan.

In this post we will look at the match preview, team line up, team news, recent form, head to head and how you can stream the match live.

Although Arsenal finish fifth in the league, Unai Emery’s first campaign at the helm will only be considered a success if Arsenal come out on top in midweek, while for Chelsea, Maurizio Sarri’s job is under threat and he has been under pressure all season long and could do with winning some silverware.

This is the first time two London clubs will be meeting in an European final and the first time 4 teams from the same country will be meeting in the two elite European final given that Liverpool will take on Tottenham in the Champion’s League final on the 1st of June.

Arsenal vs Chelsea: Arsenal Team News and Starting XI

Arsenal will be without sensational midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan who couldn’t travel with the squad due to political reasons as there is tension between his country and the host country Azerbaijan. But Arsenal Manager Unai Emery has almost a full squad to choose from, with Hector Bellerin, still recovering from his ACL injury, and the departing Aaron Ramsey (hamstring) the only senior absentees.

Recent form in Europa League: LWWWWW
Recent form (all competitions): LLWDWW

Arsenal Likely Starting XI vs Chelsea

Arsenal XI (3-4-1-2): Cech, Sokratis, Koscielny, Monreal, Maitland-Niles, Torreira, Xhaka, Kolasinac, Ozil, Aubameyang, Lacazette

Arsenal vs Chelsea: Chelsea Team News and Starting XI

With England international Ruben Loftus-Cheek already confirmed out because of an Achilles injury sustained in a Stateside friendly shortly after the Premier League season finished, Chelsea have been dealt another huge blow ahead of their trip to Baku with the news that N’Golo Kante suffered an injury setback in training, which is expected to rule him out of Wednesday’s match.

That puts more pressure on the likes of Jorginho, Mateo Kovacic and Ross Barkley to remain fit. Defender Antonio Rudiger and forward Callum Hudson-Odoi are already confirmed to miss the match with neither traveling to Azerbaijan.

With Olivier Giroud having found the back of the net 10 times in the competition – the most by a Chelsea player in a single European season, Manager Sarri has a decision to make with regards to who leads his line. He has given the nod to the Frenchman more often than not in the Europa League this season and he is favorite to start ahead of Gonzalo Higuain here.

Recent form in Europa League: WWWWDW
Recent form (all competitions): DDWWDW

Chelsea Likely Starting XI vs Arsenal

Arsenal XI (4-3-3): Kepa; Azpilicueta, Christensen, Luiz, Emerson, Kovacic, Jorginho, Barkley, Pedro, Giroud, Hazard

Arsenal vs Chelsea Head To Head This Season

Arsenal versus Chelsea will become the first fixture to played in the FA Cup final, EFL Cup final and a major European final.

Wednesday’s clash between Arsenal and Chelsea will make it the third time that two teams from the same country have faced off in the Europa League/UEFA Cup final, after Porto vs. Braga in 2011 and Atletico Madrid vs. Athletic Bilbao in 2012.

Although this is the 198th time the two sides are meeting, they have only met 3 times previously in Europe – they also met in the 2003-04 Champions League quarter-finals, with the Blues progressing 3-2 on aggregate.

Chelsea defeated Arsenal 3-2 at the start of the Premier league campaign while Arsenal eased to a 2-0 win in the reverse fixture when the sides met at the Emirates Stadium in January.