While Arsenal do not really have anything to play for, Premier League points and position wise, against West Brom at the Emirates stadium today, Arsene Wenger and the players will be very keen to get back to winning ways ahead of the crucial clash against Aston Villa at Wembley next weekend.
That FA cup final is important for the Gunners that there will be real pressure on us to perform tomorrow because the last thing we want is to head to Wembley with no win in four matches. The visitors, meanwhile, will come to north London feeling confident and relaxed after smashing Chelsea by 3-0 in their last game and winning away to Man United two games before that.
What Arsenal must do to stop that happening is to control the midfield. With the combative Yakob with Darren Fletcher and James Morrison in the middle, the Baggies have been giving opposing teams a nightmare and with Brunt and McManaman ready to drop back and help, they have a good blend of technical ability, pace and work rate. Add the organisation of Tony Pulis and you have a hard team to break through.
But if anyone can do it, Arsenal can. Wenger must pick his strongest team in their best positions. For me that means Ramsey and Coquelin as the deep lying central midfielders, with Santi Cazorla ahead of them, Alexis on the left and either Ozil or Walcott on the right. I would go with Theo as he has looked sharp and ready to go while the German could probably do with being as fresh as possible next week.