Happy Henrikh
HENRIKH Mkhitaryan believes UEFA have handed Arsenal a big advantage by switching today’s Europa League clash with Vorskla Poltava to neutral Kiev.
Fears over the security situation in Ukraine after the imposition of martial law mean the Gunners will face their Group E opponents at the Olympic Stadium 185 miles closer to home instead.
And Mkhitaryan, part of a skeleton squad that flew out yesterday for the game ahead of Sunday’s north London derby with Tottenham, claims that will give Unai Emery’s
men a boost. He said: “We were ready to play in Poltava. We are ready to play in Kiev. Of course, for Poltava it is a big disadvantage because they wanted to play at home.”
Gunners manager Emery, below, also insisted he had no problems with the surprise decision, made late on Tuesday, to switch the game from Poltava, which is only 100 miles from the Russian border.
He said: “UEFA said to us that we can play here because it is safer. We need to respect UEFA’s decision, even though it is not easy for Vorskla or for UEFA.
“We were preparing for our trip to Poltava and waiting in the evening for the decision.
“We changed the training in London and we are just arriving now, but we respect the decision.”
For a long time yesterday there were doubts the game would
Veven go ahead with furious Vorskla suggesting it could be called off.
Vice-president Oleg Lisak insisted the Ukrainians were still doing “everything they can” to host the Arsenal game in their own stadium.
But by that point Arsenal, who can top the group with a win, were already in the air en route to Kiev and UEFA’s emergency panel were never realistically going to reverse the change of venue.
Vorskla had sold out their stadium, which holds 24,795, and with the trains to Kiev fully booked by yesterday afternoon, many of their fans may not make the journey for the rearranged game.
That means the Olympic Stadium in the nation’s capital, which can hold 70,000 spectators, could be half-empty when the match starts.
The move also left scores of Arsenal fans who had already made the trip to Poltava scrambling to rearrange their travel plans. But in a statement released yesterday, UEFA said: “The urgent decision to relocate the match was based on the sudden introduction of martial law and the uncertainty of the security situation. “UEFA regret the inconvenience the relocation of this match has caused to supporters and Vorskla.”
ARSENAL (4-2-3-1):