Chelsea and Arsenal will contest the 2019 Europa League final in
exactly two weeks.
The Blues sealed
their place in the showpiece occasion six days ago thanks to a nervy penalty
shoot-out win over Eintracht Frankfurt after the two teams couldn’t be
separated after 210 minutes of football.
Meanwhile, the
Gunners overcame La Liga outfit Valencia 7-3 on aggregate with Pierre-Emerick
Aubameyang netting a hat-trick in the second leg at the Mestalla last week.
The final takes
place on May 29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, just three days before Tottenham Hotspur
and Liverpool contest the Champions League final which will round off an
historic week for English football.
But for the blue
and red half of London it’s all about the Europa League trophy.
There’s an argument
that the Gunners have the greater need to win the final as they finished
outside the top four in the Premier League, but that’s not to say the Blues
won’t be fired up despite finishing third.
So, what are the
chances of Maurizio Sarri guiding Chelsea to glory and claiming the first
trophy of his managerial career?
FiveThirtyEight’s
supercomputer has given the Blues a 60 per cent chance of winning the final,
compared to Arsenal’s 40% chance of coming out on top in their first European
final in 13 years.
That would be awful
news for Gunners head coach Unai Emery as his transfer budget in the summer is
said to be around the £40m mark if they club are not competing in the Champions
League next season.
Although, it should
be noted that the Spaniard is considered a specialist in this competition
having won it three times in a row when in charge of Sevilla – and that
included beating an English team in the 2016 final.
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