So Miki is apparently a big doubt for Newcastle with a calf problem. Be interesting to see what Arsene does. Showed tonight he's willing to play TV in that role, but whether he's willing to do it from the start is another story entirely. Have always said it would be interesting to see how TV went there. Another option is to drop Rosicky deeper, shift Santi into the middle Poldi onto the left and Giroud back upfront.

I'd say it's Wilshere who will start and maybe Ramsey to play the deepest role. I think he just threw on TV5 just for the sake of getting Arteta off and not conceding a silly goal.

With Jack having more ankle surgery next week it wouldn't surprise me to see him not risked.

on Arteta's substitution…
he is not alright, he pulled his calf so that could be a problem for Sunday. We don't know, we have to wait for 24 hours. He is a massive doubt for Sunday. He is very important, that is why i don't rule him out at the moment. maybe we will have to push Wilshere in [if he doesn't make it]. I don't know.

I wouldn't risk jack if mikki doesn't get cleared . I'll put on tv5 to see how he goes at dm . Can't get any worse can it

True, although if we win 2-1 and Chelsea draw nil-all our records are identical in terms of points, gf and goals for. Same goes for a 3-2 win with a 1-1 draw, 4-3/2-2 etc.

I saw on twitter that if points, GD and goals for are all equal then a game at a neutral ground may determine 3rd spot and auto-qual... totally unsubstantiated and I doubt it to be true but if it were that would be very interesting considering the interim Rafa situation and he's clear desire to just get the job done and get out. You would think results between the two (ie Chelsea beat us 2-1 on both occasions this season) would be the difference but does anyone actually know...?





Edited by quichefc: 15/5/2013 10:33:18 AM

This article suggests that the Premier League has confirmed that head to head will not come into it. Easiest way to deal with this is just win, and win by 2 goals, and see what happens :lol: We can only really worry about our own match.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsenal-chelsea-play-off-decide-third-1889904

Now that Fergie has left, since Arsenal last won a trophy under Wenger, all 91 other league clubs have changed their manager.

Just had a look on the official BPL website and it confirms that there WILL be a playoff if all things on the table are equal.
Head to head results do NOT come into it.

http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/fans/faqs/who-wins-league-if-teams-finish-on-same-points.html

So we're getting to that stage of the season again, what has everyones favourite performance been?

For me, for a classic Arsenal performance, the 5-1 win over West Ham is my personal favourite.

[youtube]X4meDvdG2E4[/youtube]

Obviously Munich is a close second.

Seems a long time ago now but we totally bossed Liverpool at Anfield in September - at that stage we'd not conceeded a goal... Podlski and Cazorla both got off the mark and we actually looked confident... Munich was superb (in reality it was argably our best - fiven opposition) but it will always be tainted by the first leg.

Munich is #1 for me.

Depends how you look at it. Our best performance this season is probably the 2-0 in Munich. But my favourite game has to be the 7-5 against Reading closely followed by the 7-4 against Newcastle

Any performance in the last ten weeks will do. What a sensational defensive turn around, and isn't it funny that it correlates with improved results overall. We're not particularly playing better football toward this end of the season, but we're not conceding and that is why we are doing so well.

Other commendable items of the past ten weeks are the performances of Aaron Ramsey alongside this new defensive stability. It seems that he is settling into this role well, and he's proven a lot of people including myself wrong. Well done to the lad and he must surely be considered a permanent fixture in the squad on recent performances. I see no particular reason why Jack Wilshere should come in and mix up an already solid midfield mix.

Wenger has earned himself time no matter the result on the weekend, but he must now be held accountable to this new standard. Going back to old ways might warrant a p45, particularly defensively.

Yeah that's another thing, the return of the pre-Shawcross Aaron Ramsey has been a delight. Finally showing what he was doing and more before the leg break. Also, I know it's no surprise but the performances of Koscielny in the last few weeks have been nothing short of incredible. I think some Arsenal fans still really need to appreciate how good a CB we have in him. I mean this guy was playing 3rd division in France 5 years ago and only had one Ligue 1 season under his belt before his move to England.

On the defence, it has been impressive and I would say that most players on the the field deserve credit, including the whole midfield and wingers. I suspect Vermaelen will come good. We need to remember that injuries really have affected him in a similar way that injuries have caused loss of form for Rosicky, Walcott Ramsey etc...

Would be good to have the tv5 of old back . So we can rotate the three cb's depending on opponents .

Yeah it would be good to have him back to where he was in his first season. I don't know, I still feel as though I want arsene to buy a new CB. Mertesacker still makes me panic just because he is so slow, with that said, him and Bosscielny have been rock solid.

For me Mertesacker has proved his worth - if we sign a CB it should a 20-23 yo who's happy to play some League Cup and the occasional minutes off the bench.

Our most dire need is a def Cm. Say what you like about Arteta (even though he's had a brilliant season) but he ain't a defensive CM - his bursting runs from midfield and shots (like against City last season) are the reason why he should not be tied down to a Def CM post - A Makelele type, sticks to his role and allows the play makers to do their think. That will make us much more solid and will make us a title contender.

Mertesacker is our best centre half. Watch him again mate, he's calm, collected and he is the best reader of the game in our squad. Top class centre half and is certainly proving his worth. I still think the change is tactical, but no doubt Koscielney is doing well as a footballer.

Absolutely agree Quiche, a Makalele like player is an absolute must.

word here in london is the playoff will be played at Villa Park if we need it, seems a bit weird safety wise as both sets of fans will be using the same train to get back into london,

Could not agree more about Per. Anyone who goes on about his pace or lack there of being a problem obviously doesn't watch him enough. If you actually watch him and pay attention closely he doesn't actually get caught out because of his pace all that often.

It's not that I don't 'watch him enough', I just think it's an accident waiting to happen and it has happened a few times this season. I like him to start purely for the calming effect he has on Koscielny and he is a good reader of the game, but let's not try pass him off as Vidic, Kompany, Hummels etc.

EDIT* I should note I feel that way also just because of the way Arsenal play. Our highline and our predisposition to being counter-attacked makes his lack of pace more of a liability.

Edited by Jon90: 19/5/2013 10:46:03 PM

Feels so weird tonight. Really doesn't feel like the last day of the season. Will definitely be paying more attention to the Chelsea match and not the Sp*rs one.

I definitely agree, I am apprehensive, but also optimistic that we could get 3rd. With arsenal, you can never be too sure!

Arsenal team: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Arteta, Ramsey, Rosicky, Cazorla, Walcott, Podolski

Thought Giroud would start but oh well. Arteta a massive risk.

I'm confident we can get the win, not hugely worried about that. Just hoping we can win by at least 2 goals and Everton do us a favour.

I thought he would start as well but can understand why we'd be bringing him off the bench.

All's well that ends well I suppose!