We are told that some Arsenal players could play their final game for the club against Southampton this afternoon and will be on the pitch to give potential purchasers an insight into how well they can play. That would have the benefit of encouraging such players to put everything possible into their performance in order to get a transfer without asking for one, and thus maximising their contract cancellation and their subsequent signing-on fee.
Such thinking surround the likes of Kieran Tierney, Jorginho and Oleksandr Zinchenko, or so we are told.
However, Arteta is likely to want to end the season on a high, after so much media criticism, focussing on his failure (as it was seen) to buy players last summer. Also he will want to make sure there is no silly collapse which could lead to Arsenal slipping to third, rather than have three runners’ up positions in a row – something which hardly seemed possible after the 8th place finishes in his first season and a half.
We are told in the media that [William Saliba will miss the game](https://www.arsenalinsider.com/news/mikel-arteta-reveals-another-arsenal-star-has-played-his-last-game-this-season-as-colossal-ace-handed-fresh-injury-blow/) with a hamstring injury, while Jurrien Timber is out after undergoing ankle surgery,y although that hasn’t stopped some writers putting them onto the bench.
Elsewhere we are told [Ben White](https://www.arsenalinsider.com/tag/ben-white/) will play with Riccardo Calafiori playing at centre back. But this really isn’t a time to try things out – that will be possible in the games prior to next season. What we need is to ensure the three points, and as a nice send off for those who have made the trip to support the club.
Another story doing the rounds at the moment is that Kreonke has started to tell Arteta who to sell, so he can get some of his investment back. That seems very, very unlikely to me, as Kroenke has never once shown any inclination to cash in on players. His interest seems to be getting Arsenal to the top, and cashing in would be the opposite of that.
One of the things that writers on such matters do of course is to take a snapshot of a player, and say, because of what happened last week, lasts month or off and on through the last season, he musts now go. And this of course conveniently ignores the fact that all players have ups and downs. Indeed it was chit chat of this nature that told us that Thierrry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp should be sold in their respective first seasons at Arsenal as they were “clearly not up to the standard required.”
Thankfully managers and serious owners generally have an ability to see a broader perspective. And indeed perhaps a more likely scenario will be that we see Partey, Rice and Odegaard as the default midfield all through next season.
Which means that by and large most pundits and bloggers are thinking along the lines of
Raya,
White, Kiwior, Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly,
Partey, Rice, Odegaard,
Saka, Havertz, Martinelli.
The main variation we get anywhere is over the issue of whether Havertz starts and then comes off, after an hour, or starts on the bench and comes on after an hour. I suspect he will start, not only because of his own need to get a full hour playing, but because this Southampton team is likely to tire on the hour, and the arrival of one or two new players in the front line at that stage, could well see Arsenal knock in a couple of handy goals in the lasts third or quarter of the game.
As ever we shall see, and of course we shall continue to publish through the summer, as we always do, charting the ups and downs of rumours and facts, as well as having a major review of just how weird referees have been this season.
So hoping you won’t go away – and thank you for reading.
Tony