Qarabag v Arsenal - Preview and possible lineups

Qarabag: No fresh injury concerns. 

Arsenal: Petr Cech will be out with a hamstring injury meaning Bernd Leno will start in goal, while Laurent Koscienly (achilles), Ainsley Maitland-Niles (calf) and Konstantinos Mavropanos (groin) are all sidelined.

Unai Emery has also confirmed that Aaron Ramsey, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan are all out of Arsenal's trip to Qarabag.

Qarabag manager Gurban Gurbanov:

When asked about Mkhitaryan missing the game due to political tensions: 

"I didn't want politics to interrupt the sport but we could not do anything on this issue.

"If Henrikh Mkhitaryan would come to Azerbaijan it is not the first time, until now a lot of Armenian sportsmen came to Azerbaijan but it is the choice of Arsenal that they didn't send [him].

"Arsenal may be afraid that in front of 60,000 Azerbaijani fans, Mkhitaryan has some pressure and that is why they didn't send Mkhitaryan."

Arsenal manager Unai Emery:

"Aubameyang was sick, he can't play. Aaron asked me if he could stay in London because he wife is pregnant and they are waiting.

"Mkhitaryan can't play tomorrow.

"My work is football. I respect each person, each culture, each country, but I don't know each situation in every country.

"For me, he can't play tomorrow and I have respect for Mkhi (Mkhitaryan) and for you. Today we are here with the players to play.

"We have a lot of respect for Qarabag. They started with a good performance against Sporting CP. They lost 2-0 but it was a good performance.

"The travel is long but that's not an excuse because we have done a lot of travel in our careers, the players and the coaches."

Form:

Did you know?

FK Qarabag have never faced Arsenal previously, though they have played four European games against English opposition - they've lost all four by an aggregate score of 14-1.

Arsenal won four away matches in the Europa League in 2017-18, their joint-most in a single European campaign along with their 2005-06 season in the Champions League.

FK Qarabag have lost each of their last three games in the Europa League, their worst ever run in the competition.

Score prediction: Qarabag 0 - 2 Arsenal

Possible lineups: ​

Qarabag: Vagner, Medvedev, Rzezniczak, Huseynov, Gurrier, Qarayev, Diniyev, Madatov, Zoubir, Ozobic, Emeghara

Arsenal: Leno; Bellerin, Holding, Sokratis, Monreal; Elneny, Guendouzi, Welbeck, Ozil, Iwobi; Aubameyang.