The 2018/19 Europa League final will take place on Wednesday 29th May at the Olympic Stadium, Baku, Azerbaijan.
The final will be contested between Chelsea and Arsenal making it the tenth time this competition has seen two finalists from the same association. It is the second all-English final following the clash between Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers in the 1971/72 season.
However, it is the first Europa League final to feature two teams from the same city and we have a London final on our hands.
Chelsea progressed to the Europa League final without losing a match. They came through a group containing PAOK, Vidi and BATE by winning five and drawing one of their games. In the knockout stages, Chelsea met Malmo, Dinamo Kiev, Slavia Prague and Eintracht Frankfurt, each over two legs.
The Blues won six of those eight games and were held to a draw in both legs of the semi-final by Eintracht Frankfurt. This led to a penalty shootout which Chelsea won on home soil.
Trends show Chelsea have scored at least one goal in each of their fourteen Europa League games this season. However, they have failed to keep a clean sheet in each of the last three, two of which were at home.
Arsenal were drawn in a Europa League group with Vorskla, Qarabag and Sporting Lisbon. They went undefeated in the group stage, winning five and drawing one of their six matches. This gave the Gunners the exact same record in the groups as Chelsea.
However, Arsenal started the knockout stages with a 1-0 loss at BATE before winning the home leg 3-0 to progress. They also lost the first leg of the next tie in Rennes 3-1 before coming back at the Emirates to win the match 3-0 and the tie 4-3 on aggregate.
There was no such trouble in the quarter-final and Arsenal won both legs of the tie against Napoli, including a good 2-0 win in Naples. The semi-final also saw a good performance from Unai Emery’s team as Arsenal beat Valencia 7-3 on aggregate to reach the final.
Trends show Arsenal have scored in each of their last seven Europa League games. Only twice in fourteen matches have they failed to score a goal in the Europa League this season.
Looking ahead to the team news and Chelsea have some injury problems. Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Antonio Rudiger and Callum Hudson-Odoi are all ruled out. It appears N’Golo Kante may have joined them on the treatment table, which would be a big blow for the Blues.
Arsenal will be without the injured trio of Aaron Ramsey, Hector Bellerin and Rob Holding. Henrikh Mkhitaryan has not travelled while Petr Cech is expected to keep his place in goal for the final time in his career.
Chelsea have the better record in the Europa League this season and finished above Arsenal in the Premier League. Therefore, they must be slight favorites to win a game which could see goals for both teams. The pressure is on Arsenal who need the win to qualify for the Champions League and that may work against them as Chelsea aim to end a good season on a high.