Well our season has come to this. We all know what the deal is – win and we finish in 4th spot and have the chance to play in the Champions League next season. A draw or defeat and then (let’s face it) we’ll finish 5th and Tottenham will finish 4th, bar a surprise result at White Hart Lane.

It’s hard to get excited about this game as our season rests on this final game. Anything less than a win would be disastrous and as every Arsenal fan knows, football is often a funny and cruel game.

Newcastle have nothing to play for but the final home game of the season always has more atmosphere and pressure, and they will have nothing to lose and will be up for giving their fans something to cheer about. And a win against Arsenal would be a big scalp and that massive c*nt Alan Pardew would love to stick it to Arsene.

So the pressure is on.

Unfortunately our record at St James’ Park recently has been poor and today, of all days, is not the time to have an off day. Arsenal have to be 100% focused on what’s required and even if we’re 2 goals up, I will still be nervous.

Because of the importance of the game, you can’t help think about all the crazy (or not so crazy) things that could happen to us today. The referee might give Newcastle a dodgy penalty, we might have a goal disallowed, we might get big decisions against us – anything could happen and that’s what I’m worried about.

Defensively, we have looked good of late but our problem is scoring goals. For the first time in a long time, we are having a season where goals have been hard to come by. Giroud looks like making a comeback for today’s game but far to often he’s missed important chances. Today is not the day to miss a sitter or waste opportunities. I have a feeling we will have to be ultra-clinical today to win all 3 points but I’m not convinced that will happen.

We all remember the final game of last season against West Brom and the wide range of emotions Arsenal fans felt during those 90 minutes. We got there in the end but it was one hell of a roller-coaster ride but hopefully it won’t be as tense this time around…