Barclays Premier League: Newcastle vs Arsenal – Preview

Arsenal travel to Newcastle this weekend needing a win to guarantee Champions League football next season. For Arsenal it is simple – win and you’re in. No need to worry about Tottenham’s result against Sunderland – as long as the Gunners do their job tomorrow.

With the champions decided a while back now and three clubs relegated following Wigan’s defeat at the Emirates earlier this week, the only issue left to decide is Champions League qualification. Chelsea have all but officially booked their place in Europe next season, but they will due to the fact they have a far superior goal difference to Tottenham in 5th, but they will want to secure 3rd tomorrow so that they don’t have to play in a qualifier for the group stages.

There is a possibility that Arsenal and Chelsea could playoff for 3rd spot if they finish on equal amount of everything in the table. For the record, that game would be played at Villa Park on May 26th if necessary. That matter is for another day though and Arsenal need to focus on winning their game. If Arsenal can secure third tomorrow, that’s the ideal scenario. I would much rather finish 4th and have to play a qualifier than not be in the competition at all though.

Team News: Newcastle should welcome back Sylvain Marveaux and Cheick Tiote following injuries and third-choice goalkeeper Steve Harper is expected to start because first-choice keeper Tim Krul is injured and backup goalkeeper Rob Elliot was sent off at QPR last weekend.

Arsenal are expected to be without Mikel Arteta, who has been captaining the team in recent weeks due to Thomas Vermaelen losing his place in the team. Arteta has a calf strain he picked up in the Wigan game earlier in the week, which means Jack Wilshere will likely step in and play in the midfield.

Olivier Giroud is available after serving his three-match ban. It will be interesting to see what Arsene Wenger does with Lukas Podolski tomorrow. The German international scored twice against Wigan and this could give Wenger a dilemma for tomorrow’s game. Podolski has spent most of the season starting on the left, so that is another option for this particular game.

Olivier Giroud is available again following a three-match ban.

Picture: Islington Gazette

Arsenal and Newcastle have served up some classics in recent meetings. Here are the last six in all competitions and at all venues:

29/12/12 – Arsenal (Walcott x3, Giroud x2, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Podolski) 7-3 Newcastle (Ba x2, Marveaux)

12/3/12 – Arsenal (Van Persie, Vermaelen) 2-1 Newcastle (Ben Arfa)

13/8/11 – Newcastle 0-0 Arsenal

5/2/11 – Newcastle (Barton x2 pens, Best, Tiote) 4-4 Arsenal (Walcott, Djourou, Van Persie x2)

7/11/10 – Arsenal 0-1 Newcastle (Carroll)

27/10/10 (League Cup) – Newcastle 0-4 Arsenal (Krul o.g., Walcott x2, Bendtner)

Arsenal’s last win in the league at Newcastle was back in March 2009, when goals from Nicklas Bendtner, Abou Diaby and Samir Nasri were enough to see off a Newcastle team that were relegated later that season – a 3-1 win.

So a bit of a mixed bag there really. The pressure is on Arsenal here to get the result that they need to qualify for the Champions League. They should have the desire there to win the game and I would have thought that  it could be enough to see them get the 3 points. Newcastle are safe, regardless of what happens in this fixture. Their last two home games have seen them lose 6-0 to Liverpool and 3-0 against local rivals Sunderland. If Arsenal want to qualify for the Champions League, they should be winning at Newcastle. The pressure will be on, but it’s a winnable fixture, certainly this season it is. It’s in their own hands. That’s all you can ask for at this stage of the season.

That was something I didn’t think was possible at the start of March when we suffered defeat at White Hart Lane. Arsenal haven’t lost since. They’ve done what was required from that day onwards and looked difficult at the time. There’s just one more game to go and they’ll have reached their goal since that defeat at Spurs – to qualify for the Champions League. The job isn’t done yet though. They need to go out there and win tomorrow first.