Arsene Wenger clearly wants his Arsenal team to finish the season with a flourish, and a fluent and stylish one at that, because in this final match of the Premier League season the boss has packed his starting line-up with our most creative and entertaining players.
And despite all the talking up of our flying England international forward in the build up to the game, that does not include Theo Walcott. The exciting young Alex Iwobi is not in either, and neither is Joel Campbell. Instead the boss has gone for the passing and technical ability of Jack Wilshere on the other side of the attacking line to Alexis Sanchez, with Olivier Giroud keeping his place at the point of the Arsenal attack.
The fit again Mesyt Ozil is back and he will have the considerable talents of our little Spaniard Santi Cazorla to unlock the leaky Aston Villa defence. To balance all this attacking intent Wenger has brought back Francis Coquelin to break up play and protect the back four.
Cech
Bellerin, Gabriel, Koscielny, Monreal
Coquelin, Cazorla
Wilshere, Ozil, Sanchez
Giroud
Subs: Ospina, Gibbs, Arteta, Ramsey, Elneny, Campbell, Iwobi.
So it looks like it could be a tough 90 minutes for the already relegated bottom side, while hopefully for Arsenal fans it will be a big finish and maybe even a happy ending if Newcastle can do us a favour against Tottenham. COYG.
Bob.