Unai Emery has confirmed that neither Henrikh Mkhitaryan nor Aaron Ramsey have travelled to Baku for Arsenal’s Europa League showdown with Qarabag.
It was long suspected that the Armenian would not make the trip due to visa complications related to a conflict between his country and Azerbaijan, however, when asked about the midfielder’s absence in his pre-game press conference, Emery explained that the 29-year-old was suffering from a cold.
Presumably, this explanation is the club’s way of escaping questions on a potentially complicated line of questioning. Fair enough.
Unai Emery: "Henrikh Mkhitaryan was ill at the beginning of the week, so he did not come, but Aaron Ramsey asked to stay in London, as his wife is pregnant and they are expecting a baby soon. As for the goalkeeper, Bernd Leno will most likely play tomorrow." #AFC #Arsenal pic.twitter.com/KWqTiVwiym
— AFCPressWatch (@AFCPressWatch2) October 3, 2018
The decision not to take Ramsey, who probably would have been rested anyway, was down to a personal request from the player.
Speaking from Baku, Emery revealed: “Henrikh Mkhitaryan was ill at the beginning of the week, so he did not come, but Aaron Ramsey asked to stay in London, as his wife is pregnant and they are expecting a baby soon.”
It was spotted that in addition to Bernd Leno, keepers Emi Martinez and Dejan Iliev both boarded the plane this morning. With Petr Cech injured, Emery could have been forgiven for not risking Leno, but he says the German will start.
“As for the goalkeeper, Bernd Leno will most likely play tomorrow,” he confirmed.
He went on: “We have a tight schedule, but all the competitions we are in are important for us and we treat them equally.
“We expect an important match. Since we have to play at this stadium, today’s training session here is very important.”
Funny how when Emery is asked by a player to stay by their pregnant wife’s side, he fully obliges…
Yet when Jose allows a player, it’s only for 1 day and anything over that time limit results in a fine… I wonder why players hate Jose…
lack of class?
Rambo not in Paris 3days ago at the Ryder cup? His missus must have got pregnant on Monday????
Looks like Unai really wants to win this cup.
I would absolutely have trusted Martinez in this game and let Leno rest.
I agree, but it’s looks like emery wants to Give leno games to get comfortable with the defence
Rest from what exactly?
Tiredness from playing 45 minutes on Saturday of course ┻━┻ ︵ヽ(`Д´)ﾉ︵ ┻━┻
Veryyy convenient
Is Emi Martinez an awful player? I’m not being clever, I just genuinely don’t know. Appears as if he’ll never get a game, and I don’t know if we could sell him even if we wanted to.
How is it that Ramsey can attend the Ryder Cup on Sunday, despite his wife being heavily pregnant, but he can’t play for the club that pays his wages?
Something doesn’t quite add up to me
Maybe she’s being induced
Fair point, but still don’t think it looks good on him
I think it’s just an easy excuse at the moment but it could also be that it’s easy to get from France to the uk in a couple of hours, not so much the other side of Europe
I would think the distance to return home from Paris to be present for the birth is a lot more realistic than rushing back from Baku.
May be his wife travelled with him to Paris, just didn’t go to the golf. This option may not be possible for this game because he doesnt know enough about the countries medical care to risk it his wife travelling, or the logistical nightmare it may cause if she did travel and there were complications.
Azerbaijan is just a tad farther than Paris. Like 5 hours flight farther.
And if the writing is on the wall I don’t really care what the excuse is, if there is one. Let’s just move on and focus on the future of the team, not the soon to be past.
If we know anything from the past few matches, it’s that his absence won’t be the game changer with Emery’s style of play.
I guess Leno needs first team games for building confidence but Emery looks like he will make very few changes in any games league or cup
Just reading through comments of disgruntlement from United fans over Sanchez. I think we got the best deal and he made the mistake of being too greedy and opting for the worse Manchester side and manager. Ramsey would do well to reflect on how changing clubs might actually be a backwards step. Alexis was one of the best players in the premier league at Arsenal after being a bench player at Barcelona. Now he looking for a big team like PSG to rescue him but only to be back on the bench. At Arsenal he was loved by the fans,… Read more »
I’ve kept saying that getting Miki for Sanchez was the best bit of business we did last season. We literally pulled a very good player out of nothing.
As for Sanchez, i expected him to do better at Man U but hey ho. Fuck him and good riddance.
Alexis was world class for us, he’s a top player and while I like Mkhi, there’s no doubt that he’s a better player. We got the best deal we could given the awful negotiating position we got ourselves into and the insane wages Alexis was being offered.
That Mourinho has managed to take a player of that quality (alongside several others) and got the collective playing at just about the level of Bournemouth is however, hilarious.
He simply wants to win everything!
He just wants to play every game and celibrate life with his dogs. Which were also loved and supported by Arsenal fans. His dogs must be as pissed off with the move as Blog’s puppy yesterday in going to the vets and missing morning snacks.
He wants to win the game himself though. Didnt always work. I loved him at the beggining then i started hating him for being a greedy little petulant child.
Leave the dogs out of it.
More cut-ins than a florist
I had my doubts when the decision was made to keep him on for one last season but I could see the thinking behind it. He was said to be enough of a professional with pride in his game to not be anything at the top of his game towards the very end. I’m no manager so what do I know, eh? And then he was awful. If that’s because he didn’t want to perform for us or something else, who knows? The fact is he was fucking dreadful. But what’s more surprising is that he hasn’t done particularly well… Read more »
All the competitions we’re in are not equal. P
Please we don’t need Mhkitaryan for Qarabak. Save him for Fulham. OTOH hope we look into potential right sided wingers this January if reports of Ramsey (and even Welbeck) leaving may be true. I can think of better players to get rid of besides Welbeck…like Jenkinson and Elneny but if Danny has to go, maybe Nketiah will get a shot. Still, nothing in the squad replaces Welbeck’s potential raw power. As for a Rwinger, I guess many potentials are now cup tied. Like Thauvin or the boys atPSV. As I mentioned (from left field) maybe Carrasco(NOminally plays left side inverted… Read more »
On the club’s website they say that Auba is the one who was ill, not Micki?
“I explained first, for Mkhitaryan, why he cannot play tomorrow. Monday and Tuesday, Aubameyang was sick and he cannot travel to play tomorrow. Aaron Ramsey asked me if he can stay in London because his wife is pregnant and they are waiting on the doctors.”
I have no doubt we wanted Ramsey to stay, but he didnt. If he did he would not sit at home playing fifa19 when we face Qarabag away. Your wife deserves better than this, say the truth.
Maybe Martinez will get to play in the next Carabao cup game. Hopefully.