Only one place to start today, which is with The Arsenal Women, who did what I think most of us would agree was the unthinkable, by sinking Barcelona Femini. That Barca team tend to down anyone they come across, so to completely shut them out and then see the final stages over the line after they scored in the second half, well, that’s impressive.

They went one better than the men did and who knows, perhaps this victory can inspire the men’s team for next season, as they look to get over the line and start delivering trophies.

For today however, the season needs to have its chapter closed with the game away to an already relegated Southampton in what can only be described as the most dead rubbers of dead rubbers, as we all know. Regardless of the result Arsenal are 99.9% sure to finish second. Southampton are 100% sure to be bottom. They are merely doing a farewell session to the Premier League today and whilst I’m sure they’ll want to go out with a bang, the reality is that I’m not expecting much from today’s game. From either side actually. Arsenal have wanted this domestic season done for a while now and Southampton are the same. All that might be left to do is to see if we can get Havertz on the scoresheet, or if David Raya can keep a shutout and collect the ‘golden glove’ for consecutive seasons.

The signs are good. Southampton have scored just 25 goals all season. They’ve also conceded 84 and will go down as one of the worst Premier League teams. They will most likely look to be compact and frustrate and that means that we’ll probably have to do what we’ve had to do all season, try to break down a low block, in what will inevitably be an incredibly frustrating game.

I’ll watch it, I’ll probably be doing a BBQ at the time, but I’m not expecting much and hopefully we can just put on a show. Let’s see one final performance before we can final set sail on this cursed season.

Team wise we’ll have Kiwior and Calafiori at the back, White on the right, MLS on the left, then it might end up being Partey’s last ever game in an Arsenal shirt. I wonder if Arteta will also give Jorginho and Zinchenko some minutes in the second half though? if we’re up like we were against Ipswich then I’d definitely say so, but I wonder if Arteta is tempted to try some other tinkering too, like play Nwaneri in Ødegaard’s position? Let’s face it, we do need a solution that is oven ready next season and that solution could be our versatile wonderkid. Having him able to play wide left, right, or in one of the eight roles is massive and so I would be tempted to see that in the second half.

I think he goes with Martinelli, Saka and then Trossard again though, up top, because I think he’ll have Havertz earmarked for a second half display. He could go with Merino up top instead of Trossard, but I think Leo did well enough against Newcastle, plus I think k they’re trying to get him to sign a new deal, so I think this is one of those ‘every little helps’ scenarios and that’s why I think the little Belgian starts.

Other than that there’s really little else to write about. We will play, hopefully we will win, the season will end and you and I will spend the next three months hoping the club do what is required to make us challengers next season for the league.

Back tomorrow with some post match thoughts.