Arsenal were pictured at Luton Airport, boarding their flight to Azerbaijan.

The Gunners are in Europa League action on Thursday evening, kicking off at 5.55pm away to Baku club Qarabag.

The game represents the club’s longest-ever away trip – totalling 4,000km, and a flight time of five hours 50 minutes from Luton Airport to Baku.

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In their opening game, Unai Emery’s men recorded a 4-2 win over Ukrainian side Vorskla Poltava, while Qarabag went down 2-0 in Portugal to Sporting.

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They can take confidence from Qarabag’s rotten record against English opposition.

In four previous meetings they have lost all four, including 6-0 and 4-0 defeats to Chelsea in last season’s Champions League, and 1-0 and 3-1 losses to Tottenham in the 2015/16 Europa League.

The likes of Alexandre Lacazette, Lucas Torreira, Nacho Monreal and Alex Iwobi were pictured boarding the plane to Baku, with Emery taking a strong squad with him to the furthest reaches of Eastern Europe.

The players will be hoping it is not the last time they fly the same route this season, with the Europa League final being held at Baku’s Olympic Stadium on 29 May 2019.