FK Qarabag vs Arsenal - Europa League as it happened: Gunners young stars shine in 3-0 win
Look back on the live coverage of Qarabag vs Arsenal
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Arsenal eased to Europa League victory against Qarabag on Thursday night - but they were far from their best in Baku.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos opened the scoring early on before the visitors had to withstand plenty of pressure until Emile Smith Rowe's first senior goal and a first for club for Matteo Guendouzi secured a 3-0 win which flattered Unai Emery's side.
The Arsenal head coach opted to bring the likes of Mesut Ozil, Alexandre Lacazette and Granit Xhaka on a near 5,000-mile round-trip despite a tricky visit to Fulham early on Sunday - but they were named on a strong bench at the Baku Olympic Stadium.
When is it?
Qarabag vs Arsenal is one of the early matches on Thursday 4 October.
When does it start?
Kick-off in Azerbaijan is at 17:55 BST.
Where can I watch it?
BT Sport will be showing live coverage on BT Sport 2 and online on the BT Sport app for customers.
Odds
Arsenal to win: 2/5
Qarabag to win: 8/1
Draw: 7/2
Welcome!
Good evening and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of FK Qarabag vs Arsenal, European football doesn't get much better than this!
Stay tuned for the latest team news and all the build-up ahead of this evening's 17:55 BST start.
It is a lengthy trip for Arsenal, this, all the way to Azerbaijan, to the banks of the Caspian Sea for Matchday Two in the 2018/19 Europa League.
Our venue tonight is the wonderful Olympic Stadium in Baku, which was opened in 2015 with a capacity nearing 70,000.
Kick off is about an hour and fifteen minutes away.
Unai Emery has a stellar record in this competition, winning the Europa League thrice in succession as Sevilla manager between 2014 and 2016, and he would have been pleased to get started in the competition at Arsenal with a 4-2 home victory.
The hosts began their group stage campaign with a tough trip to Lisbon, succumbing to a 2-0 defeat against Sporting and putting them on the back-foot with regards to progressing out of the group. They would love a shock home victory this evening.
Team news for the visitors.
As anticipated they ring the changes from their win against Watford, and it looks like Unai Emery may have opted for a 3-at-the-back formation. Bernd Leno impressed off the bench in lieu of the stricken Petr Cech and may have to shoulder a full workload with Cech sidelined.
Rob Holding and Nacho Monreal are the only carry-overs from the Watford starting lineup, with Stephan Lichtsteiner and Sead Kolasinac introduced at wing-back. A start for Emile Smith-Rowe in forward areas after the 18-year-old made his debut off the bench in this competition two weeks ago.
One man not in the squad is Henrikh Mkhitaryan, from Azerbaijan's Caucasus cohort Armenia. Luke Brown explains why Mkhitaryan didn't travel:
TEAM NEWS
The hosts' starting line-up looks like this: Vagner, Abbas Huseynov, Maksim Medvedev, Jakub Rzezniczak, Ansi Agoli, Gara Garayev, Michel, Mahir Madatov, Filip Ozobic, Abdellah Zoubir, Innocent Emeghara.
This is not the first time in recent years that FK Qarabag has met an English side. The Azerbaijan Premier League champions met Chelsea in the Champions League group stages last year and were pumped 4-0 and 6-0, suggesting they may not be too much trouble for Arsenal tonight.
However, North London rivals Tottenham had a tougher time in Azerbaijan back in 2015, having to battle to a 1-0 victory thanks to a late goal from Harry Kane.
Baku: the future
Worth bearing in mind that the venue for tonight's fixture will host the Final come May, and, looking even further ahead, the western-most stadium of the 12 slated to host UEFA Euro 2020.
Less than ten minutes until kick-off at the Olympic Stadium. Qarabag's midfield intriguingly includes Michel, a Spaniard briefly of Birmingham City during the 2010-11 season.
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