UEFA are facing the prospect of major Europa League embarrassment with Arsenal and Chelsea fans shunning the final in Baku, The Sun reports.

European finals involving English sides have traditionally seen as many as 40,000 from each club descend on host cities.

But the extortionate costs and ludicrous travel problems associated with getting to Azerbaijan mean more than half the 12,000 tickets allocated to the two London clubs are likely to be returned.

Both Arsenal and Chelsea were given individual allocations of 6,000 for the match, which kicks off at midnight local time next Wednesday.

SunSport understands the Gunners have only shifted around 3,500 with little sign any more will be sold in the build-up to the match.

And fewer than 2,000 Chelsea fans have purchased seats from their allocation as the folly of having to trek to the Eastern-most edge of Europe hits home.

As soon as both teams qualified for the final, the price of flights to Baku escalated to over £1,300 – and local hotels have vastly increased the price of rooms in a blatant attempt to cash in on football fans.

Both clubs have excellent numbers of supporters who usually travel abroad to follow the team in action – but this time they are being priced out.

It means Uefa now faces the prospect of the showpiece match being beamed around the world showing thousands of empty seats.

That comes on the back of Arsenal deciding they could not take Henrikh Mkhitaryan to Azerbaijan for the match amid fears for his safety.