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Five players who could be playing their last game for Arsenal today

Five players who could be playing their last game for the Gunners

This current wild campaign will now draw curtains. After today’s match, the focus will be shifted to the preparation for the 2022/23 campaign.

It is natural that the fans won’t be seeing a lot of familiar names  next season. Here are five who could be appearing in the famous Arsenal jersey for the last time today.

Alexander Lacazette

Majority of Arsenal fans have enjoyed seeing the Frenchman play since his arrival from Lyon in 2017 for then club-record fee. His best season with the club was certainly the 2018/19 season, when he had a whopping 32 goal contributions in 49 appearances, helping the Gunners reach the final of Europa League.

While also winning the Player of the Season award. His passion, determination and love for Arsenal Football Club will be sorely missed.

Nicolas Pepe

It’s safe to say that the London outfit didn’t get a good return of the £72 million that the club splashed on him in the summer of 2019.

Little has gone Pepe’s way since his switch to England from France. And I’m certain he would be pushing for a move away from North London, after playing just 939 minutes of football this season.

His late season form in the past two seasons has been exceptional and I hope he can put a good end to a bad deal for both the parties against Everton.

Eddie Nketiah

Although Mikel Arteta has praised him on a number of occasions in public, especially after his impressive performances against Chelsea and Man Utd recently, it does not look like the young Englishman will call the Emirates Stadium his home from next season.

The Gunners are on the hunt to acquire a big name to spearhead the team from next campaign. And the 22-year-old might not want to play second fiddle anymore.

Granit Xhaka

This is a name which has always given the Gunners faithful mixed feelings. Sometimes the Swiss international has given a world-class performance, while the other times he has made himself look like a disaster waiting to happen.

Nevertheless, one thing we all can agree on is his commitment, despite the difficulties he faced in the past six years at London.

He’s a true icon, who would be missed more by the Arsenal players and staff, than the fans. Xhaka’s future is still up in the air. Despite handing him a contract extension last summer, I don’t expect to see him in the Arsenal colors beyond the clash with Everton.

Bernd Leno

The German has been a very good signing, since his arrival in 2018. But Arsenal certainly needed an upgrade on his position at the start of the campaign. Playing out from the back is certainly not the 30-year-old’s forte.

And Aaron Ramsdale’s performances makes it clear what the team was missing since the German’s arrival.

I just wish him luck for his future, because he’s a genuinely nice lad.

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There are several names that can be added to this list. Mohamed Elneny, Cedric Soares and even Rob Holding have a good chance of departing in the summer.

With the number of players that will be brought in, you can only wonder whether there will be some surprise goodbyes.

Yash Bisht

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Video – Mikel Arteta talks ahead of our last game of the season

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24 Comments

  1. Xhaka?? Can’t see him leaving, Yash. I do agree with the others you’ve mentioned though.

    I’m sure whoever stays behind for the lap of apology will give them a good send-off!

    1. “LAP OF APOLOGY” EH SUE? I’ d suggest it is certain fans, (probably not many who attend weekly though, but a great many on JA) who SHOULD BE APOLOGISING , but to our manager!
      A good deal of the anti MA rants on JA have been outrageously vindictive, stupid, ignorant and puerile beyond belief!

      1. Coming from you, Jon – many times I’ve read your rants regarding manager (s).. Where’s your apology??

      2. I wish that none of them were playing today, but unfortunately I think we don’t have much choice at the moment.
        I do hope though we can all put sentiment to one side and agree that Leno, Cedric, holding, Tavares, Elneny, xhaka, Pepe, lacazette and Nketiah are squad players at best. As I said I expect all 9 to be involved today, even if it’s only on the bench for some, but after today the boss needs to be looking to move all 9 on. Tavares could be the exception as he is young enough to be transitioned into a new position.

      3. Regardless of whom is leaving,MA needs to bring some experienced players,players at their peak, strong characters,leaders,very strong physically… everything this team is crying out for.

      4. Apologize for stating the obvious!!??
        Champions League thrown away after gifting Barcelona our captain and best striker mid season, so who should be apologizing to who??
        The coach needs to bottle in his ego, otherwise he will be back with Everton while Viera takes the hot seat at the Emirates.

  2. I want xhaka to retired at arsenal.. as the saying goes”you might not know the important of something until you lose it”

    1. less red cards and penalties, not good enough to lead Arsenal in Midfield, back up player at most

    2. I don’t know why Tavares he’s included. Gunner need to loan Tavares out to acquire more experience, his own playstyle does work with what we are expecting from Arsenal.

  3. Yash, to give you SOME credit, this piece while scarcely itself of riveting interest, does at least SAY SOMETHING.

    So to that extent only, it is markedly better than your dismal Berbatov article of this morning.

  4. When has xhaka given world class performances? Good ones, yes, but he’s never looked like one of the best around?

    1. “one thing we all can agree on is his commitment”
      But he almost left last summer before we have him a new contract, and his comments to the media at that time seemed to be blaming his teammates? Am I missing something? (probably haha)

    2. You never realized how important this guy is to the team until you lose him. A player who gives sweat and blood , a player who can play as no 8,5,3,11and 10 . A player who never complains about a role given to him. This guy is wanted by mourhino and I l rather he retires at arsenal than letting him go. Mind you Newcastle will sign him to our shame

      1. I know what you’re saying, I just don’t think that will be the case with xhaka – provided, of course, we replace him with someone good.
        We’ve played well without xhaka, including this season, and we’ve played badly with him. Yes, he’s been willing to play different positions, which is commendable, but rarely, if ever, has he played different positions well.
        I also don’t believe he has such a great attitude. His reactions have given him away at times, and I’ve seen two interviews in successive seasons where he appears to have blamed his teammates for our troubles, but never really himself.
        As a leader, I think he’s our Harry maguire – he’s managed to convince several managers that he’s a leader who makes the team better, when really he’s not a leader, never spurred us to any kind of success as real leaders often do (not talking about cups and titles, just individual matches would be something). He’s can pass well sometimes and is very useful in the air defensively, but overall I think he’s a very mediocre player that we could replace quite easily.
        Could be wrong of course, but i don’t think so in this particular case.

        1. Davi, never second guess yourself when it comes to your very well-reasoned evaluation of our rather underwhelming, entitled and thirsty wantaway player, Xhaka…he’s the albatross around our collective tactical necks…so long as he’s on the pitch MA will opt for negative, sideways football more often than not, which won’t get it done at the highest of levels…time for the training wheels to come off this project…that said, I’m incredibly fearful that somehow, someway he will be here next season, unless we make a very unexpected managerial change…Cheers

  5. I would be perfectly happy if all of them were playing their last game.
    The way they played against Newcastle they don’t deserve to play for Arsenal.
    A disgrace…

  7. Pls let Xhaka be with us till end of next season. Those who are coming in need to be guided in field of play by some old hands in the mid field.. Find solution to Gabriel “s inconsistency in the defence line.

  8. Pepe, farewell and thanks Alex. Xhaka is not leaving and not sure about Eddy or Leno leaving. Eddy has improved since starting and can do a good job. Leno is good enough and we should have more games next season. Xhaka can stay but as he can’t lift us higher an investment in this area is vital as he can’t clearly raise us and quality midfielders with flair and goals is required as the goal output is frankly low to be a top four side.

  9. Anyway it’s manager work to do better transfer so that the can move next level while the player can stay or move on

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