Arsenal’s Europa League tie moved from Poltava to Kyiv

As noted before, there’s some stuff goin’ down in the Ukraine right now. The most trivial of all things goin’ down in the Ukraine this week is a soccer game, featuring our own Arsenal playing Vorskla Poltava in the penultimate Europa League group stage game of the season.

With all that’s been happening in the Ukraine, UEFA has taken the sensible decision to move the game.

So, Arsenal will repack the family truckster they just got all unpacked, pile everyone inside, and head the 211 miles west to Kyiv, where hopefully things will be, if not normal, at least a little calmer and just that much further out of harm’s way.

While this doesn’t impact any of us in any meaningful way - my TV looks the same whether Arsenal are in London, Kyiv, Singapore, or wherever else - when it comes right down to it, football doesn’t matter. As we saw this past weekend in Argentina (for, obviously, different reasons), when safety is compromised, bad things tend to happen, so I’m fine with this game moving at the relative last minute.

Spare a thought, though, for the traveling Gunners who still decided to make the trip who now have to make alternate arrangements in less-than-ideal circumstances.