Gunners relaxed over venue swap

Unai Emery says Arsenal will respect Uefa’s decision to move tonight’s Europa League tie with Vorskla Poltava to Kiev.

The venue for the Group E clash was switched to Kiev’s Olympic Stadium from Poltava – around 185 miles east of the Ukrainian capital – after martial law was declared in regions of the country.

In a statement released yesterday Uefa apologised to both sets of supporters for the inconvenience of the switch and says it will send senior security experts to assess the situation in Ukraine.

Emery, though, said that once on the pitch his side will be largely unaffected.

“First, we need to respect Uefa’s decision because I think it’s not easy for Vorskla,” he said.

“It’s not changing a lot to play here. In 90 minutes it is not a very big change. It is clear they are playing in Ukraine, not in their town, but here in Kiev they can also move their supporters.

“The decision is not easy but with big responsibility. Uefa yesterday found the best decision to play and also with protecting everybody, us and them.”

Chelsea return to action tonight after Maurizio Sarri held individual post-mortems with his players after the loss to Tottenham.

Spurs won 3-1 at Wembley to end Sarri’s 18-game unbeaten start with the Blues and the Italian wants to see a reaction after rebuking France World Cup winner N’Golo Kante for roaming too much from his wide midfield role.

Kante won two Premier League titles playing in central midfield, but has been deployed on the right to accommodate Italy playmaker Jorginho.

Speaking ahead of the Group L clash with Greece’s PAOK, Sarri said: “I want to play as a centre midfielder with a very technical player. For me the centre midfielder is Jorginho or (Cesc) Fabregas.

“I don’t want Kante in this position. Kante in the last match wanted to solve the match after the first 15 minutes, but in the wrong way.

“He lost the position, he attacked too much the other box. And I think this one is not one of the best characteristics of Kante.”