West Brom vs. Arsenal
Venue: The Hawthorns
Kick off: 1:30PM
West Bromwich Albion head into their Premier League clash with Arsenal at The Hawthorns aware that they must deliver a positive response to back-to-back defeats if they want to hold realistic hopes of achieving seventh place at the end of the season.
As for the Gunners, under-fire Arsene Wenger is aware that he cannot afford to miss out on three points in the West Midlands if he is to ease the pressure surrounding his current contract discussions with the club.
Wenger has endured arguably his most difficult period of his long tenure at Arsenal and with Manchester City to come after the international break, he is in a position where the trip to West Brom is hugely significant.
While Arsenal have reached the FA Cup semi-finals, their best win since the end of January is a victory over Hull City – a result which was considered fortunate given the decisions which went in their favour – and Wenger needs to show the club’s supporters that his players are still capable of convincing performances under his guidance.
Confidence is low in North London and matters have not been helped by the contract situations involving Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, but the future will look brighter should Arsenal start to put wins together like earlier in the season.
The Baggies however sit in eighth place and can still achieve a Europa League spot with an inspired run until the end of the season, but back-to-back defeats has left them seven points adrift of a free-scoring Everton side and Pulis may already accept that their current position is the best that they can hope for.
West Brom Possible XI: Foster, Nyom, Evans, McAuley, Dawson, Yacob, Livermore, Fletcher, Chadli, Brunt, Rondon.
Arsenal Possible XI: Cech, Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Ramsey, Walcott, Iwobi, Ozil, Sanchez.