Another season draws to a close and once again, you’re left contemplating where the time has gone. Arsenal will improve on last season’s Premier League position unless they suffer a heavy defeat and United romp to a convincing victory over Hull City.
The Gunners will have an eye on next week’s F.A. Cup Final with the manager suggesting he will ‘certainly’ rest one or two weary looking players. This is of course balanced with the fact that some players could certainly use some minutes ahead of next week’s showpiece.
But Arsenal will need to be careful not to take their eye of the task against West Brom. Momentum is important and the team have drawn 2 and lost 1 of their last 3 having failed to score in their last 3 home games. A convincing performance feels like a necessity to go into the final in good shape.
As for the Baggies, they secured Premier League survival quite some time ago. Tony Pulis rarely needs reason to set his teams up to be stubborn and organised and having seen the performances of Chelsea, Swansea and Sunderland of late, he will be even more inclined to do so.
The question for him will be motivating his players to play in such a dogged fashion when they have nothing to play for. Beating Chelsea 3-0 was certainly a nice way for them to sign off in front of their own supporters, can Pulis motivate his troops that a 0-0 draw at the Emirates is something worth fighting tooth and nail for? Pulis himself would take great pleasure in frustrating Arsenal, that’s for sure.
Vital Quotes:
Arsene Wenger has warned his team not to ake West Brom lightly ahead of their season closer at Emirates Stadium, ‘It`s a big warning because we have a home game and we want to finish the job. ‘We want to finish on a high at the Emirates and we want our fans to go home happy, full of hope for next season.’
“Every season we have had to focus until the last minute,” the manager said. “So sometimes you would like to play a game where there is no pressure. But finally when you have one, you get bored, so at least we have to keep the concentration and it`s better.
When you switch off it`s always difficult to switch on again. You always think ‘OK we`ll switch on`, but it`s not like that. When you switch off it is always difficult to switch on again, it`s not like when you switch on a light.
‘”Swansea came here and played four-six, no striker, Sunderland defended very well and in both games the two goalkeepers had exceptional games. I am not especially concerned, let`s just focus on our game.
“What is important is to finish well and to score again. We are a team that can score goals, we want to finish on a high and secure that third place.”
Baggies coach Tony Pulis has admitted that he has come to relish the rivalry he has built up with Arsene Wenger over the years. ‘”Obviously we had that little thing when we were at Stoke. It was brilliant. I thought it was fantastic.
“I used to get slaughtered going down to the Emirates and Arsene used to take a bit when he came to the Brit… and still does from what I can gather!
“That`s football, that`s life and you get on with it. I`ve got absolutely no problems with any of the managers. Nine times out of ten you will have five minutes with them after a game. I don`t know the person. I couldn`t say whether he was a nice guy, bad guy whatever… because you don`t spend time with them.
“And when you are involved in football a lot of people see you and they perceive you in this image that is projected. Nine times out of ten you turn the cameras off and we are different human beings. Softer.”
Arsenal Team News:
Arsene Wenger says that Mathieu Debuchy, Alex Oxlade Chamberlain and Danny Welbeck are all unavailable for the match on Sunday. Mikel Arteta was not mentioned in his injury round up but one can presume he is not available either.
Wenger says he will make some changes which could see the likes of Gabriel, Theo Walcott, Calum Chambers and Tomas Rosicky start.
Arsenal (from); Szczesny, Gibbs, Mertesacker, Gabriel, Koscielny, Rosicky, Wilshere, Ozil, Giroud, Ospina, Walcott, Ramsey, Alexis, Monreal, S.Cazorla, Flamini, Chambers, Coquelin, Akpom, Bellerin.
Player to watch: The goalkeeper
Whomever is selected on Sunday, I think it’s a fairly safe bet to say that they will play in next week’s final. It’s difficult to believe that Wenger would throw Szczesny in ‘cold’ after six weeks without a match.
Last season Fabianski played the final match at Norwich which proved to be a warm up for the final. If Szczesny plays, I think we can assume that the same rule applies here.
West Bromwich Albion Team News:
West Brom are only missing goalkeeper Ben Foster with a knee injury, the rest of the squad is fit. It remains to be seen whether Tony Pulis will make changes after Monday night’s 3-0 win over Chelsea.
West Bromwich Albion (from); Wisdom, Olsson, Baird, Yacob, Lescott, Morrison, Gardner, Ideye, Anichebe, Brunt, Myhill, Pocognoli, Gamboa, Mcmanaman, Mulumbu, McAuley, Fletcher, Dawson, Sessegnon.
Player to watch: Boaz Myhill
FAO: Arsenal’s strikers. Let’s try kicking the ball either side of this one, eh?
Match Facts & Stats
Arsenal are unbeaten in eight league meetings with West Brom, winning six of them.
Arsenal have scored in all 17 Premier League meetings against West Brom.
The Gunners have scored more than once in just one of their last six league matches.
Arsenal’s last defeat on the final day of the season was 10 years ago. They are unbeaten in the subsequent nine matches (W7, D2).
The Baggies have kept clean sheets in four of their last five games.
Albion have scored a league-high 13 goals from corners this season.
All stats via the quite lovely guys at opta.
Ref Watch:
Mark Clattenburg was down to referee this fixture, but he has now been replaced by Robert Madley. (Is he the guy that presented This Morning with Judy Finnigan?)
Match Prediction:
I think Arsenal are going to win this one 3-0. I just have the feeling West Brom will have considered the Chelsea match as their true sign off for the season and might not be particularly motivated to battle for a 0-0 draw. I could be wrong of course, it’s happened before! Scorers will be Giroud, Walcott and Ramsey.
Next Fixtures:
Arsenal will play Aston Villa at Wembley Stadium at 5.30pm next Saturday.