Breaking: Arsenal's Henrikh Mkhitaryan set to miss Europa League final against Chelsea in Baku

Arsenal have officially announced that Henrikh Mkhitaryan will not be travelling to the Europa League final in Baku due to tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Arsenal and Mkhitaryan's main concerns were regarding the safety and security of the player, his family, and also his team-mates, as right now Azerbaijan is undergoing a time where no Armenians are allowed into the country due to the ongoing conflict over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The Armenian has not travelled to Azerbaijan on each of the past two occasions that Arsenal have been drawn to play there in European competitions, and he has once again gone against travelling there, with Arsenal set to face Chelsea in Baku on Sunday.

Whilst Azerbaijan's ambassador to the United Kingdom offered guarantees over Mkhitaryan's safety, the club and the player himself felt that it was very difficult to be fully certain of his safety in Baku.

Arsenal released a statement saying that they "are very disappointed to announce that Henrikh Mkhitaryan will not be travelling with the squad" for the UEFA Europa League final. The club also added that they "have written to UEFA expressing our deep concerns about this situation. Micki has been a key player in our run to the final so this is a big loss for us from a team perspective."

This is shocking by UEFA, as such matters should have been dealt with beforehand, when it was still possible to change the venue.