Arsenal go into Monday’s Premier League clash against Newcastle with their heads held high after their cruel but brave elimination from the Champions League by AC Milan.
With a full weekend for his squad to recover, manager Arsene Wenger should also have a number of players returning from injury to choose from.
Aaron Ramsey is set to have recovered from an ankle injury and Mikel Arteta who missed out on playing in the crunch Champions League tie after picking up an injury against Liverpool should also be in the squad.
Star player Jack Wilshere looks set to miss out however after failing to make a recovery from an ankle injury in time.
He is set to make his return within a fortnight.
Newcastle’s recent form of three straight games without a win might suggest that Arsenal are favourites in the clash, but the Toon sit just five points behind them in the table and a win could see the deficit cut to only two points.
Although Arsenal won three of the last six games between the two, none of these victories have been in the three most recent games.
The Magpie’s goalkeeper, Tim Krul, has issued a call to arms against the Gunners, Chelsea and Liverpool, telling them to “be afraid” of Newcastle’s challenge for European qualification.
Manager Alan Pardew has echoed his player’s comments and said that Newcastle still have a strong possibility of qualifying for Europe, possibly at the expense of Arsenal.
“We have a great chance of European football,” he said
“The 11 games to go are the most important of every season. I am glad the derby is out the way and we can concentrate and get the wins we need.”
Despite the fighting talk from the Toon camp, bookies’ odds suggest that Arsenal are the clear favourites to bag three points in the Monday night game.
At the time of going to press, they were 4/9 on against 13/2 for a Newcastle victory.
The odds offered by bookies at 3/5 of there being over 2.5 goals in the game indicate the possibility of a repeat of last season’s clash in February which ended 4-4.
Arsenal have knocked up an average of four goals each in the last four games.
Kick off for the match, scheduled to be broadcast on Sky Sports One, is at 20:00 and tickets are available from the club box office.
