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Footage has emerged showing Azerbaijani police stopping Arsenal fans wearing Henrikh Mkhitaryan shirts on the streets in Baku, ahead of the Europa League final against Chelsea .
Mkhitaryan chose not to travel with the Arsenal squad due to fears for his safety, owing to his native Armenia’s conflict with Azerbaijan, despite the local FA insisting he would be safe to make the trip.
Speaking ahead of the match, both Granit Xhaka and Sokratis Papastathopoulos said that Mkhitaryan’s absence had provided them with extra motivation to win the Europa League in his honour, while Bernd Leno claimed the situation was a “scandal” earlier this week.
“Of course we are disappointed he’s not here but I think we spoke a lot about Mkhitaryan, and a lot of political things, and it’s time to speak about football,” Xhaka said on Tuesday.
Watch the video below:
“He’s very important for us, and we want to give him a trophy tomorrow.
“We’ve been twice in a row in the Europa League, and a club like Arsenal has to be in the Champions League.
“It’s an amazing and important game for us, because we want to give the club and the fans the Champions League back.”
Show all 32 1 /32Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Arsenal: Stay or go?
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Bernd Leno - Stay After a steady integration and a few early errors, the German has settled in well as Arsenal's No 1 keeper, playing exceptionally against Leicester last week and more than justifying his £25m price tag.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Petr Cech - Retired The 36-year-old will hang up his gloves at the end of the season. Arsenal are keen to keep him on in a coaching capacity, however, Cech may prefer a return to former club Chelsea.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad David Ospina - Keep Napoli have an option to buy, however, the Colombian would prove a perfect, and most importantly free, back-up if the Italians do not take up that offer at a time when Arsenal need to focus on investing in other positions.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Emiliano Martinez - Sell The Argentinian has impressed at Reading on loan. But at 26, he's unlikely to ever establish himself as first-choice at Arsenal and the player is keen to move on and gain first-team football.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Laurent Koscielny - Keep A leadership figure at the club with one-year remaining on his contract, the Frenchman is certainly worth keeping on for a final season, despite becoming increasingly injury prone.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Sokratis - Keep Adapted well in his first season and also has genuine leadership qualities in the dressing-room. One of Arsenal's more reliable options in defence this season and a worthy back-up at the least.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Rob Holding - Keep Flourished under Unai Emery before his season was derailed by an ACL injury. Should establish himself as first-choice next season.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Shkodran Mustafi - Sell A liability who Arsenal will be desperately regretting not offloading to Inter Milan when they had the chance. Unreliable and error-prone, Emery does not rely on the German in a back-four and the club will be keen to move him on, even if his value has dipped dramatically.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Konstantinos Mavropanos - Keep Has been given precious little game time, despite high hopes around the Greek defender. Needs to be given more minutes next season unless Arsenal would consider a loan deal.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Calum Chambers - Sell Utlimately ended up playing as a central midfielder for Fulham this season and, while showing signs of improvment, does not have the quality to re-establish himself at Arsenal. Chambers is only 24 and should command a reasonable transfer fee from a side towards the other end of the Premier League table.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Hector Bellerin - Keep Another long-term injury absentee this season. Arsenal's best defender on his day and one they will certainly look to keep hold of.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Nacho Monreal - Keep The under-celebrated cog in Arsenal's maligned defence. Monreal can play both as a left-back in a 4-4-2 and as a wing-back or left-sided centre-half when Emery opts for five-at-the-back. Valuable versatility and experience that's worth holding onto as a back-up for the final year of his contract.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Sead Kolasinac - Replace for the right price Cannot be relied upon in a four-at-the-back formation. Frequently fails to track his marker and is lost for pace against skilfull wingers, despite often being brilliant going forwards. Very effective as a wing-back but Arsenal need a first-choice left-back who can be trusted to help sure up a leaky defence.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Ainsley Maitland-Niles - Keep More often used as a right-back, despite favouring a midfield role. Maitland-Niles has improved but is yet to totally convince. At 21, time is still on his side and he clearly has the potential, but he needs to find another level over the course of the next season.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Stephan Lichtsteiner - Release Has hardly impressed when filling in and at 35 is well off the pace of the Premier League. Contract expires at the end of the season and is almost certain to depart.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Carl Jenkinson - Release A cult favourite at the Emirates but a player who has never lived up to expectation. Will depart when his contract expires this summer.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Granit Xhaka - Keep Can be a frustrating anchor in Arsenal's midfield with errant passing and reckless tackling. Ideally Arsenal would replace the Swiss international, but with a replacement for Ramsey already required it's unlikely Xhaka can be afforded to leave.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Lucas Torreira - Keep The Uruguayan fell out of favour with Emery during the latter part of the season, despite immediately impressing. Still needs time to adapt to the pace of the Premier League but the 23-year-old continues to look brilliant value at just £25m.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Matteo Guendouzi- Keep The 19-year-old has been one of the shining lights of this first campaign under Emery, with huge potential and a fearless personality. Can steadily be refined into a first-team starter for years to come if continues to improve and irons out youthful flaws.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Mohamed Elneny - Sell Only used as a last-ditch option by Emery and does not have the technical quality to effectively fill in for those ahead of him. Arsenal should be able to recoup the £5m transfer fee paid for the Egyptian in 2016.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Aaron Ramsey - Joining Juventus Arsenal will need to replace Ramsey with a midfielder of similar ilk. The decision not to extend his contract has become increasingly mindless during the second-half of the season in which he has been Arsenal's best player.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Denis Suarez - Return to Barcelona Who? Barely featured since Arsenal desperately pursued a loan deal for the 25-year-old in January. The decision to sign Suarez, over younger players with more potential, also contributed to Sven Mislintat's shock departure. One to forget.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Alex Iwobi - Sell for the right price Showed early improvements under Emery but it's still hard to say Iwobi has proved he has the quality to stand against the Premier League's top wingers, with a lacking final ball and paltry goal tally. There's no need to actively look to move Iwobi onwards, but if the right offer came in Arsenal should consider their options.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Mesut Ozil - Intends to stay Arsenal should look to free up their wage budget and sell Ozil, despite a recent upturn in form after a season of quarrels with Emery. There was already an openness to offload Ozil in the January window, but the creative enigma has now claimed he intends to stay and there's little Arsenal can do to force him out.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Henrikh Mkhitaryan - Sell Has never managed to consistently impress at Arsenal and his £180,000-per-week wages are a hindrance on the club. Arsenal should definitely look to move the Armenian on. The 30-year-old iis another one though who may be happy to sit tight.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Reiss Nelson - Keep Started brilliantly at Hoffenheim before falling out of favour and then losing his space in the squad for disciplinary reasons. Has great potential and should hope to break through at Arsenal next season.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Emile Smith Rowe - Keep Made an impressive breakthrough before struggling with injury before Christmas, which has since prevented him from getting game time on loan at RB Leipzig. Clearly Arsenal's best young prospect with clear potential and, despite Leipzig's interest in another loan deal, Arsenal should look to keep him at the club next season.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Alexandre Lacazette - Keep Arsenal's player of the year this season. Build-up play, ability to hold up the ball, added robustness and willingness to drop deep behind Aubameyang has turned him into an ideal striker in Emery's set-up.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang - Keep Twenty goals in the Premier League this season, despite being guilty of occasionally missing key opportunities. Has developed a great relationship with Lacazette.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Danny Welbeck - Released Arsenal confirmed Welbeck's contract won't be extended after the draw with Brighton.
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Stay or go: Arsenal's squad Eddie Nketiah - Loan Needs more time on the pitch to develop. Almost joined Augsburg in the January window and should look to improve on loan with options currently so limited behind Lacazette and Aubameyang.
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Sokratis, who wrote a social media post in support of Mkhitaryan’s decision, added: “We’ve had five or six years together, I know him very well, we are good friends.
“So I just wrote what I feel. But we have also to play for him and for the players who are injured, and tomorrow if we win this game, it’s also for them.”
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