Leave no man behind.

A code embraced by the US military, it refers to army policy of

doing everything and anything possible to avoid abandoning troops behind enemy

lines. A ________ dictum, despite the accompanying risks, it is one the Arsenal

hierarchy may _______ ruefully as their players and backroom staff set off for next

week’s Europa League final, leaving one of their own potentially key troops

behindbefore even arriving at the Baku battlefield.

In the meantime a “letter voicing their concerns” has been dispatched to Uefa and, at
a recent media briefing, Unai Emery ____________ about the importance of winning
the final for Henrikh Mkhitaryan. “Micki”, as he is _____________ at Arsenal, was
unavailable to give his take on this Uefa-induced ________, a conspicuous absentee
as he will be on Wednesday night.
The Armenian midfielder will play no part having decided, in consultation with his
family and his employer, to absent himself because of well-documented concerns
over his safety and presumably that of his teammates. “We have a situation that is
completely unacceptable,” fumed Arsenal’s managing director, Vinai Venkatesham.
“It is not our decision or Henrikh’s but one we made together.”
Despite its ________ to let Armenian citizens across its border, the Azerbaijan
government had agreed to make an exception for Mkhitaryan as long as the
midfielder agreed to ________ and nothing else. “If our purpose is to play political
games around it, that is something different, but I hope it is not, because you are
being paid as a footballer, not as a politician, so let’s leave other issues aside,” said
their ambassador to the UK, Tahir Taghizadeh, in what sounded not so much like an
assurance as a __________. Upon discovering Mkhitaryan would not be travelling to
Baku, Taghizadeh accused the player of making “a political statement” before
________ Azeri assurances no harm would come to the player in the unlikely event
he changed his mind.
Such _______ and it remains unclear how exactly the Azeris planned to guarantee the
safety of a hopelessly exposed player as he ____________ on a vast football pitch in
a stadium late at night. As any prominent Brexiteer who has had a suit ruined in the
recent spate of amusing milkshake attacks while wandering Britain’s streets will
______, the presence of ______ security guards is clearly no deterrent to anyone
armed with a paper cup of Five Guys icy salted caramel beverage and a clear line of
sight.
___________ the final is an option that remains open to Arsenal and one the club
ought to seriously consider despite the inevitable repercussions. It clearly won’t
happen as, speaking on Wednesday, Emery repeated ________ that, while it was a
source of great regret that Mkhitaryan will miss out, the huge importance of the game
they will now play without him cannot be overstated.
Although it is _______ to criticise somebody’s _______ attempts to express
themselves in a language they are nowhere near mastering, it is no exaggeration to
say the Arsenal manager’s public _______ can often _______ the unintelligible.
However, his refusal to publicly criticise Uefa for what amounts to the kind of
discrimination and exclusion it always claims to be so wholeheartedly against could
not have been more clear and left no doubt where his personal and professional
priorities understandably lie.
Uefa, despite its decidedly weak defence of its right to stage a _______ European
final in a country where anyone with the wrong passport or surname is unwelcome,
has been _________ for what was clearly an ill-advised move. If Arsenal refused to
contest the Europa League final in Azerbaijan, ideally with the backing of their
opponent, Chelsea, they would almost certainly generate the kind of global headlines
that would be equally unwelcome at the headquarters of European football’s
governing body and might force its occupants into a ________.
Of course, the ________ for the club could be severe but hardly ______. They would
incur an automatic €500,000 (£441,000) fine, with Uefa reserving the right to impose
further sanctions, probably in the form of a – possibly extended – ban from European
competition. The accompanying loss of revenue could be as high as £50m per season
in European exile and possibly even more once the knock-on effects inevitably
_______. Meanwhile in the short term their reluctance to _______ before the sale of
tickets for this most _______ of finals means fans who have made plans to travel to
Baku would also lose out. Is it naive to speculate that Gooners willing to travel so far
to support their beloved club might perhaps be prepared to go just a little further and
take the financial hit?

churlish utterances burly cry foul ramifications ruinous ponder

the party line border on farcical kicked in climbdown boycotting

play ball attest roundly panned reiterating blanket refusal game (adj)

prestige talk is cheap thinly veiled threat went about his business

commendable shambles known to all and sundry made all the right noises