Match Preview: Arsenal v Newcastle Mon 8pm

As the race for fourth place continues in the league, Arsenal take on Newcastle United at home on Monday night in what could be a deciding game for the Gunners.

Everton lost to Southampton on Saturday afternoon leaving us in a prime position to gain an advantage on them come Monday night and it’s imperative we take every chance we can get to get more points. I still can’t believe we’re chasing 4th spot after being top for majority of this season but it’s a case of we’ll take what we can get but there has to be big change this summer, we can’t run out our next few seasons chasing 4th spot like we have for the last few years.

After a stellar performance against Hull last week I hope that we see more of that football being played against the Magpies, we were more consistent in our passing and there was definitely an improved attacking nature to the game. Possession is nothing if we can’t convert it to goals and it is important to remember that this weekend. Our defence need to stay strong, especially for the first half because that is when Newcastle will come at us and that is when we are weakest this season.

The return of Ramsey and Ozil to the team has had such a positive effect, it seems the team have come to rely on them and we play different (worse) football when they’re not available and that showed when they both played last week.

Newcastle aren’t in great form at the moment, they travel to the Emirates on the back of 5 losses and they could slip into the bottom half of the table if they lose this weekend, that being said they do normally play well against us and whilst they have lost some of their drive I don’t think they will be easy to beat.

Arsenal are missing Gibbs this weekend as he is out with a ankle problem, Vermaelen due to a hamstring pull and Gnabry is out with a knee injury. Diaby has returned to training and played 45 minutes for the reserves this week but he could still miss Monday’s game due to a groin niggle.

Let’s hope we win this game and wherever you are watching on Monday night enjoy the game.

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