Second best meets outright worst in Sunday’s Premier League gameweek 38 dead rubber, as Arsenal travel to St Mary’s to battle Championship-bound Southampton.
The Gunners are practically assured of a third straight silver medal in the top flight, while the hosts have avoided the unwanted fate of being the Premier League’s worst-ever team.
Match preview
Urged to rest the influential Declan Rice for the remainder of the season after it was reported that the £105m man had picked up a hamstring injury, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta ignored such pleas, and rightfully so as the England international saved the Gunners’ bacon once again vs. Newcastle United.
Following an inspired first-half display from David Raya against the Magpies, Arteta’s men belatedly woke up at the start of the second half – as was the case in their 2-2 stalemate with Liverpool – and Rice’s 19th direct goal contribution of the season made the difference in a 1-0 success.
Snapping a five-game winless streak in front of their own fans, Arsenal have now punched their ticket to next season’s Champions League and will confirm a second-placed ranking with just a single point on Sunday, although they ought to be fine either way thanks to their superior goal difference over Manchester City.
However, the silver medal simply will not suffice for Arteta and co next season, but they can at least endeavour to end the current campaign the only way they know how, as victories on the final day are the visitors’ forte.
Indeed, the Gunners have won 23 final-day fixtures in the Premier League era – more than any other club – and have not lost a gameweek 38 fixture in two decades, last going down to Birmingham City in their final encounter of the 2004-05 campaign.
In stark contrast, defeat is virtually all that the Southampton faithful have known this season, and another this weekend would be their 30th of the top-flight season, which would represent a new unwanted record for a single Premier League campaign.
Not even the infamous Derby County side of 2007-08 lost as many as 30 games en route to ignominy, but the Saints’ mission to surpass the Rams’ 11-point total was completed against Manchester City two weekends ago, allowing them to go down with their heads held slightly higher.
Normal service was resumed last weekend, though, where Simon Rusk‘s side had the honour of being the final Premier League visitors to Goodison Park and succumbed to a 2-0 loss to an emotional Everton side, shipping twice to Iliman Ndiaye inside the opening 45 minutes.
Rusk will now man the touchline for one last time before handing the reins over to his successor – Lens boss Will Still is rumoured to be one of the leading candidates – but the former will not depart without trying to mastermind just a third Premier League home win for Southampton since the start of 2023.
The Saints can take solace from some positive head-to-head statistics, as all eight of their Premier League victories against Arsenal have come in front of their own fans – most recently in April 2022 – but the Gunners came up trumps 3-1 at the Emirates in October after Southampton took a shock lead.
Team News
While Rice and Leandro Trossard both survived hamstring scares earlier this month, William Saliba is not so lucky, and the Frenchman will be absent for the final game of the season due to the issue he picked up in the first half of the Newcastle win.
Saliba is one of two new defensive concerns for the visitors to manage, as Jurrien Timber is now recuperating from an ankle operation, while Gabriel Jesus (ACL), Gabriel Magalhaes (hamstring) and Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) will play no part at St Mary’s either.
However, Mikel Merino is back from a ban and could provide an alternative option in the final third, as might Kai Havertz, who made his long-awaited return from a hamstring concern off the bench in last weekend’s success.
On Southampton’s end, Rusk has confirmed that the ankle injury that Taylor Harwood-Bellis sustained will rule him out of the visit of Arsenal, an untimely blow given that Jan Bednarek is also struggling with a knee issue.
The interim boss also could not confirm whether Kyle Walker-Peters (illness) would be back for what might be his last appearance for the club; Albert Gronbaek has definitely played for the Saints for the last time owing to his Achilles concern.
Rusk opted to hand 18-year-old Joachim Kayi Sanda his Premier League debut last weekend after Harwood-Bellis went off, but the experienced Yukinari Sugawara will surely be preferred from the first whistle against the runners-up.
Southampton possible starting lineup:
Ramsdale; Sugawara, Stephens, Wood; Bree, Smallbone, Downes, Welington; Dibling, Fernandes; Sulemana
Arsenal possible starting lineup:
Raya; White, Calafiori, Kiwior, Tierney; Odegaard, Jorginho, Rice; Saka, Merino, Martinelli
We say: Southampton 0-2 Arsenal
The curtain cannot come down on the season quickly enough for Southampton and Arsenal, both of whom already have one eye on 2025-26 and may not play out a cracker on Sunday.
The prospect of there being nothing on the line could lead to a more open game than Man City’s visit, but if so, only Arteta’s men should benefit as they make absolutely sure of second place.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
VOTE IN THE 2024-25 SPORTS MOLE READERS’ AWARDS!
Voting is now open for the annual Sports Mole Readers’ Awards, where you can pick your player of the season, manager of the season, signing of the season and much more.
Click here to make your selections, and the winners will be announced on Monday, May 26!
