Hey there! Welcome to another edition of WIITW. We’ve made it lads, last Premier League match of the season!

Here’s the last post ahead of the 2-0 win over Sunderland in midweek.

This Sunday, we’re at home to Everton.

The Managers

Arsenal

Here’s Arsene Wenger’s press conference.

On the future of Ozil and Alexis: “I don’t question their focus and their determination because in every game they turn up with strong performances. They behave like they want to be at the club.”

On a post-FA Cup board meeting: “There are many aspects of a football club which has to be discussed at a board meeting. One of those is what happens with the manager.”

On how we beat Everton: “By keeping the quality of our game very high, by putting offensive pressure on them, by maintaining our run.”

Everton

Dutchman Ronald Koeman has faced Arsene Wenger 12 times before and he has certainly has Wenger’s number in the past. Koeman has managed five wins over Arsenal while Wenger has recorded just the two victories against his counterpart.

Koeman has taken charge of five different teams against Arsenal – Ajax, PSV, AZ Alkmaar, Southampton and Everton. His first defeat against Wenger came in their sixth clash – Arsenal beat AZ in the Champions League group stage in 2009. In December 2014, Alexis Sanchez provided the winner in Arsene Wenger’s only League victory over Ronald Koeman.

Their very first meeting came back in the days of a Champions League second group stage in 2003. Arsenal and Ajax played out a 1-1 draw at Highbury. That was one of four draws in that group for Arsenal, who were eliminated after defeat to Valencia on matchday six. The Ajax team that night featured the likes of Maxwell, Andy van der Meyde, Steven Pienaar, Nigel de Jong and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. It came a couple of years after Zlatan almost joined the Gunners (he even posed for a photo in a #9 shirt). But Wenger ludicrously requested the Swedish teenager to participate in a trial before signing for Arsenal. As Zlatan put it himself a few years later, he “doesn’t do auditions.” He ended up joining Ajax instead.

How’s your form?

Arsenal

The Gunners have won four in a row in the League – and eight of the last ten in all competitions. It’s the kind of late season push that has seen Arsenal claim a Champions League spot in the past. However it may have just just a little too late this time. We still need Liverpool to drop points (or City to lose and have the goal difference swing in our favour) in order to secure a Top Four finish.

Last 5 (all competitions): LWWWW

P: 37 W: 22 D: 6 L: 9 F: 74 A: 43 Pts: 72 Pos: 5th

Everton

The visitors are stranded in 7th place for this season. Not quite strong enough to crack that top six, but still significantly better than the rest. They’ve won just four times away from Goodison all season (at West Brom, Sunderland, Leicester and Palace) and are without a victory in their last seven away games. Everton have gotten just two points from their trips to teams in the top six this season – 1-1 draws at both Manchester clubs.

Last 5: WDLLW

P: 37 W: 17 D: 10 L: 10 F: 61 A: 41 Pts: 61 Pos: 7th

Team News

Arsenal

Aaron Ramsey is available for the game on Sunday. The Welshman limped off with about 20 minutes to go against Sunderland in midweek.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain won’t make it back for Everton but Wenger did say last week that the Ox has a good chance of returning for the FA Cup Final. There’s still some uncertainty over Laurent Koscielny. He’ll have tests today to determine his fitness.

Everton

Morgan Schndeiderlin returned for Everton’s win over Watford last Friday night. He had missed the previous two games with a thigh injury.

The Toffees could well be without keeper Maarten Stekelenburg. A groin injury ruled him out of that game with Watford. He was replaced by Joel Robles.

Head-to-Head

These two sides hold pretty significant top flight records. Everton have had more seasons in the top division than anyone else (114), while Arsenal have had more consecutive seasons in the highest tier of English football than any other club (90). Therefore, it’s no surprise that they have met each other as many times as they have. 206 matches, 101 Arsenal wins, 45 draws and 60 Everton wins.

The first time Arsenal hosted Everton was in April 1905. The Gunners won it 2-1, thanks to goals from Charlie Satterthwaite and Andy Ducat.

Arsenal won just one of their first five home matches against Everton following the move to Highbury. After Everton won there in 1927, they’d go on to win just three times at Arsenal over the following 30 years.

The first FA Cup clash between them at Arsenal was a seven-goal thriller. The Gunners won it 4-3. Two of the Everton goals were scored by legendary striker Dixie Dean. He’s the top scorer in their history with 383 goals. That Cup game came in the same season that Dixie Dean set a record for League goals in a single top flight campaign. His 60 goals in 39 matches is a record that will probably never be beaten.

Arsenal and Everton are two of just six teams to have been ever present in the Premier League. This Sunday will be the 50th PL match between them. Arsenal hold the advantage with 29 wins to Everton’s 7. There have been 13 draws.

Their first Premier League encounter ended in a 2-0 Arsenal win at Highbury. Ian Wright and Anders Limpar got the goals.

Everton have won just once at Arsenal in the Premier League. That came in January 1996. Andrei Kanchelskis got the decider in a 2-1 Toffees triumph.

After that defeat, Arsenal won all of the next 10 home matches against Everton in the League. Everton didn’t get anything out of a trip to Arsenal again until their first visit to the Emirates.

Arsenal have six wins out of ten League matches against Everton at the Emirates. But the Gunners have only won two of those by more than a single goal.

The most likely scenario in which Arsenal finish in the Top Four this season is if we beat Everton and Liverpool fail to win at home to Middlesbrough. We could still finish 3rd too if City were to lose at Watford. However, we’d still need a decent swing in goal difference to finish above Pep’s side. The last time Arsenal beat Everton at home by more than two goals in the League was in the 7-0 win at Highbury in 2005.

That’s Interesting

One of the goalscorers in the very first Arsenal win over Everton was Andy Ducat. He has the unique distinction of representing England in both football and cricket. He made his Arsenal debut as a forward in 1905 but was eventually switched to right-half when he lost his place in the attack. He became a decent player in a struggling Arsenal team. Due to financial troubles with the club, Ducat was sold to Aston Villa (one of the biggest clubs at the time) for £1,000 in 1912. He scored 21 goals in 188 matches for Arsenal. He went on to captain Villa to success in the 1920 FA Cup Final. His 6th, and final, England cap came against Ireland in October 1920. Ducat’s one appearance for the England cricket team came in a test against Australia in 1921 – during which time he was still playing football at Fulham. He even managed Fulham for two seasons after his retirement. His life revolved around sport and Ducat went on to become a cricket coach and sports reporter after he retired from cricket in 1931. His death came in somewhat fitting, yet tragic circumstances too. Ducat suffered a heart-attack whilst playing a war-time cricket game at Lord’s in 1942. He was just 56. In 2008, Andy Ducat was voted as number 43 in the list of 50 Gunners Greatest Players on the Arsenal website.

In over 200 matches against each other, Arsenal and Everton have met just 15 times in domestic cup competitions over the years. The most recent cup clash came in the FA Cup quarter-final in 2014. Everton haven’t won a cup game against Arsenal since 1981. Six wins from six for Arsenal since then – five in the League Cup and one in the FA Cup.

Everton have had six permanent managers since Arsene Wenger has been in charge at Arsenal. The first was Joe Royle. He’s the last Everton boss to win a major trophy – he led the Toffees to the 1995 FA Cup. Harry Redknapp is the only other English manager to win the FA Cup since then (with Portsmouth in 2008).

There has never been a Premier League hat-trick in an Arsenal/Everton match. The last player to get three in a game in this fixture was Ian Wright – and he got four! It came in a 4-2 Arsenal win in December 1991. That game was the last between Arsenal and Everton in the old First Division.

There hasn’t been an Arsenal player sent off at home against Everton since Sol Campbell saw red 25 minutes into the opening day fixture in 2003. Everton’s Li Tie was sent off later in the same game. Since then, the only red card between these two at Arsenal was shown to Gareth Barry the last time Everton visited the Emirates.

In both the 1997-98 and 2001-02 Double winning seasons, Arsenal finished off their home campaign against Everton. In 1998, Arsenal secured the title by beating Everton 4-0 at Highbury. That was the day of that Tony Adams goal. Current West Ham boss Slaven Bilic also scored an own goal in the game. Arsenal finished off that season with two away defeats to Liverpool and Villa. Then, in 2002, we played Everton on the last day of the season. It was the end of a fantastic week for Arsenal. Having beaten Chelsea in the FA Cup Final a week earlier, a second Premier League title was clinched at Old Trafford a few days later. So on the final day, there was a party atmosphere at Highbury and the fans were treated to a 4-3 thriller against Everton.

Arsenal have finished each of the last two seasons with a home game. Both were against teams from the midlands. Both saw Arsenal score four goals. Both featured an Arsenal hat-trick. In 2015, Theo Walcott scored three against West Brom. Jack Wilshere got the pick of the bunch though. Last season, the Gunners put four past relegated Aston Villa. Three of them came from Olivier Giroud.

Giroud wouldn’t be the worst bet for a goal on Sunday either. The Frenchman has four goals in his last three games against Everton at the Emirates.

I did have a whole spiel prepared about Lukaku and Alexis having a bit of a Golden Boot shoot-out on Sunday. But then Harry Kane decided to go rogue at Leicester last night… Kane now has 26 goals, Lukaku is on 24 and Alexis has 23. If Harry Kane is to top the list, he’d be just the fifth player to win consecutive Golden Boots in the Premier League (behind Shearer, Owen, Henry and RVP). Van Persie is the last Arsenal player to have won the award.

How about some goals?

And that’s that…

So there it is – everything you could possibly need to know about Arsenal vs Everton. Just about… The match kicks off at 3pm on Sunday. Every game kicks off at the same time on the final day of the season. The race for the Top Four is the only thing left to be decided in the Premier League. We’re outsiders to get into the Champions League spots but stranger things have happened. The most straightforward way to do it is if we win and Liverpool don’t. We’ve had some big results in the past that have secured Top Four on the final day – coming from behind to beat West Brom in 2012, “It’s 1-1 at Newcastle!” in 2013, Lasagna-gate in 2006. Will we deserve 4th place if we get it? That’s possibly up for debate. Will it be hilarious to snatch it from Liverpool on the last day after that shocking run of form we had in the middle of the season? Absolutely.

I’ll be back next week to preview the big one – The FA Cup Final!

As always, thanks for reading!