London in Baku
Arsenal and Chelsea face off in the ridiculously distant not so Armenian friendly country of Azerbaijan, more specifically, the capital Baku. The two London teams face off in what will be the first all-english EL final since the 1971/72 season where Tottenham beat Wolverhampton but who will win the trophy this time around?
Arsenal
The Gunners endured a horrendous end to the season which saw them forfeit their Champions League spot and finish at a very disappointing 5th place.
Arsenal's last 7 games include 4 defeats, 2 wins and a draw which is simply not acceptable for a team aiming for the Champions League. What made everything worse was that those defeats all came against sides the team from North London should NOT be losing to and really highlighted the men in red's need of new defenders.
However, all is not doom and gloom. Not only did Emery's side finish on a "high" with an easy away victory at Burnley but in Unai Arsenal have the most successful Europa League coach ever having won the competition with Sevilla 3 times in a row.
Another vital aspect is that Aubameyang and Lacazette's partnership is blooming, the duo are lethal and will cause Chelsea's backline immense problems.
Notable absentees
Bellerin and Ramsey.
Chelsea
Despite drawing 3 of their last 4 games the blues ended at a very respectable 3rd place, 1 point above Tottenham in 4th. However, according to different outlets all is not roses and rainbows within Chelsea and rumours of Sarri getting the sack after the final no matter if they win or lose grow weekly.
In all seriousness though, the players and staff are professional enough to ignore what is happening on the outside and i highly doubt they will be putting any focus on anything but the game.
Although, something Sarri will genuinely be worried about is his current injury list with midfield superstar N'Golo Kante becoming the newest addition. Kante joins fellow midfielder Loftus-Cheek in the stands which means that choices for Sarri's preferred 3-man midfield are limited to Jorginho, Barkley and Kovacic, the former two of which are not worse players by any means but are albeit Mauricio's second choice starters.
Then again, with players like Hazard up front anything is possible so i wouldn't fret too much.
Notable absentees
Kante, Loftus-Cheek, Rudiger and Hudson-Odoi.
Betting tip
Due to both teams being involved in quite a few high scoring EL games and the fact that both teams have highly unreliable defenders i will be backing over 2.5 goals at 9/10 with Bet365.
