It’s the final week of the regular season for football teams across Europe and that means we have reached the final of the two big European club competitions. The biggest clash takes place at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid, home of Atletico Madrid, where Liverpool and Tottenham clash on Saturday night with the Champions League Final.
But before that in Baku, Azerbaijan, two more Premier League sides will meet in the Europa League Final. London rivals Chelsea and Arsenal will cross swords once again for the third time this season but this time with one of the top European trophies of the season on the line. For Chelsea it is a chance to win the trophy again after landing a victory back in 2013, for Arsenal it is a chance to land their first win in the tournament, after they lost the 2000 Final to Galatasaray on penalties.
It isn’t the first time that two English teams have clashed in the final of this competition, Tottenham beat Wolves in the final of this tournament when it was called the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup back in the 1971/72 season. However, this is the first time that two English teams have met in a major European final since Manchester United and Chelsea clashed in the Champions League final in 2008.
If you fancy a flutter on the game, then bet365 Sport has a number of fabulous markets available for you to bet on before the game starts. If you are not yet a customer, you can join today using the current bet365 Sport New Player Promotion which will get you started on the site with a little added bonus for you to enjoy. Add to that an extensive range of In Play betting available on the game and you’ll have no regrets signing up.
Let’s now preview the final itself and remember to tune back later in the week for our similar preview of the Champions League final.
Europa League Final
UEFA has come in for fierce criticism from fans, players and many involved in the game for scheduling the final in Baku. Not only will the game kick off at 11pm local time, in order to ensure a start time of 8pm or 9pm across most of Europe, but the political situation between Azerbaijan and Armenia is such that Arsenal midfielder Henrik Mkhitaryan will have to stay at home, as he did when the Gunners met Qarabag in Baku in the Group Stage of the tournament.
Add to this the inconvenience of fans of two teams based a few miles apart in London being forced to travel thousands of miles across Europe to play the final in a country with little football heritage, but with deep pockets to pay UEFA for the privilege, and it is easy to see why so many are up in arms about the location of the final.
Both teams have travelled far and wide to reach the final, so let’s see how both have got through to Baku.
The Road to Baku
Both Arsenal and Chelsea qualified for the Group Stage of the Europa League and they were the only two remaining English teams in the competition following Burnley’s exit in the preliminary round, Arsenal were drawn into Group D alongside Vorskla, Qarabag and Sporting Lisbon, while Chelsea entered Group L along with Vidi, BATE Borisov and PAOK.
Arsenal
Group Stage
- Matchday 1 – Arsenal 4-2 Vorskla (Aubameyang 32,56, Welbeck 48, Ozil 74)
- Matchday 2 – Qarabag 0-3 Arsenal (Papasthatopoulos 4, Smith Rowe 53, Guendouzi 79)
- Matchday 3 – Sporting Lisbon 0-1 Arsenal (Welbeck 77)
- Matchday 4 – Arsenal 0-0 Sporting Lisbon
- Matchday 5 – Vorskla 0-3 Arsenal (Smith Rowe 10, Ramsey 27(p), Willock 41)
- Matchday 6 – Arsenal 1-0 Qarabag (Lacazette 16)
Group Stage Standings
- Arsenal – 16 pts (+10)
- Sporting – 13 pts (+10)
- Vorskla – 3 pts (-9)
- Qarabag – 3 pts (-11)
Knockout Phase
- Round of 32 – 1st Leg – BATE Borisov 1-0 Arsenal
- Round of 32 – 2nd Leg – Arsenal 3-0 BATE Borisov (Volkov og 4, Mustafi 39, Papasthatopoulos 60) – Arsenal win 3-1 on aggregate
- Round of 16 – 1st Leg – Rennes 3-1 Arsenal (Iwobi 3)
- Round of 16 – 2nd Leg – Arsenal 3-0 Rennes (Aubameyang 3,72, Maitland-Niles 15) – Arsenal win 4-3 on aggregate
- Quarterfinal – 1st Leg – Arsenal 2-0 Napoli (Ramsey 14, Koulibaly OG 25)
- Quarterfinal – 2nd Leg – Napoli 0-1 Arsenal (Lacazette 36) – Arsenal win 3-0 on aggregate
- Semifinal – 1st Leg – Arsenal 3-1 Valencia (Lacazette 18,25, Aubameyang 90)
- Semifinal – 2nd Leg – Valencia 2-4 Arsenal (Aubameyang 17,69,88, Lacazette 50) – Arsenal win 7-3 on aggregate
Chelsea
Group Stage
- Matchday 1 – PAOK 0-1 Chelsea (Willian 7)
- Matchday 2 – Chelsea 1-0 Vidi (Morata 70)
- Matchday 3 – Chelsea 3-1 BATE Borisov (Loftus-Cheek 2, 8, 53)
- Matchday 4 – BATE Borisov 0-1 Chelsea (Giroud 52)
- Matchday 5 – Chelsea 4-0 PAOK Salonika (Giroud 27, 37, Hudson Odoi 60, Morata 78)
- Matchday 6 – Vidi 2-2 Chelsea (Willian 30, Giroud 75)
Group Stage Standings
- Chelsea – 16 pts (+9)
- BATE Borisov – 9 pts (0)
- Vidi – 7 pts (-2)
- PAOK – 3 pts (-7)
Knockout Phase
- Round of 32 – 1st Leg – Malmo 1-2 Chelsea (Barkley 30, Giroud 58)
- Round of 32 – 2nd Leg – Chelsea 3-0 Malmo (Giroud 55, Barkley 74, Hudson Odoi 84) – Chelsea win 5-1 on aggregate
- Round of 16 – 1st Leg – Chelsea 3-0 Dynamo Kyiv (Pedro 17, Willian 65, Hudson Odoi 90)
- Round of 16 – 2nd Leg – Dynamo Kyiv 0-5 Chelsea (Giroud 5, 33, 59, Alonso 45, Hudson Odoi 78) – Chelsea win 8-0 on aggregate
- Quarterfinal – 1st Leg – Slavia Prague 0-1 Chelsea (Alonso 86)
- Quarterfinal – 2nd Leg – Chelsea 4-3 Slavia Prague (Pedro 5, 27, Deli OG 9, Giroud 17) – Chelsea win 5-3 on aggregate
- Semifinal – 1st Leg – Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1 Chelsea (Pedro 45)
- Semifinal – 2nd Leg – Chelsea 1-1 (Loftus Cheek 28) – 2-2 on aggregate – Chelsea won 4-3 on penalties.
The referee for the final is Italian Gianluca Rocchi.
Olivier Giroud, Chelsea’s ex-Arsenal striker, is the current joint-top scorer in the tournament with 10 goals alongside Eintracht Frankfurt’s Real Madrid-bound striker Luka Jovic. A goal in the final would see Giroud claim the top spot outright.
Team News
Arsenal
Arsenal will travel without Henrik Mkhitaryan for this game for political reasons while the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Hector Bellerin and Rob Holding are out through injury. The Gunners will likely go with a back five, with wing backs, which will allow them to play Ozil in a more advanced role behind their two front men Lacazette and Aubameyang, although if Emery wants a more energetic player in that role, Ozil could be dropped allowing Iwobi to come into the team. However, I feel in such a crucial game, the German will get the nod.
Arsenal – 5-3-2 – Leno, Maitland-Niles, Kolasinac, Koscienly, Papasthatopoulos, Mustafi, Guendouzi, Torreira, Ozil, Lacazette, Aubameyang
Chelsea
Chelsea have real injury worries over N’Golo Kante in midfield with the influential Frenchman a real doubt for this game. That could mean a start for Ross Barkley in midfield. It will be interersing to see if Sarri goes with his favourite striker, Higuain for the final, or whether he keeps the in-form Olivier Giroud as first choice, though with Higuain starting in the semifinal, I feel the unlucky Frenchman may just miss out on a starting place in the team.
Chelsea – 4-3-3 – Kepa, Azpilicueta, Alonso, Rudiger, Luiz, Jorginho, Kovacic, Barkley, Hazard, Willian, Higuain
Europa League Final Tips
Full Time Result – Draw – 12/5
I think this is a final which will require extra time to decide the winner. I think Arsenal have the slightly better attack, but I feel defensively Chelsea are much stronger than the Gunners so while I can see both teams scoring in 90 minutes, I feel neither will do quite enough to land the win. As such I think a 1-1 draw (which is 5/1 shot in the correct score market) is the most likely outcome so you can back the draw here at 12/5 with bet365.
Method of Victory – Arsenal in Extra time – 11/1
My other tip here is to back Arsenal to win the tie in extra time in the Method of Victory market. Having said I already feel that a score draw is likely, I think in extra time Arsenal could snatch the win, ostensibly through their attacking pace and the fact that they have the ability to change system a little more flexibly than Chelsea. I can see a player like Iwobi coming off the bench to have a big impact on the game in extra time and as such, I think the Gunners could steal the win.
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