Team news
Hector Bellerin and David Luiz are injured. Matt Ryan is ineligible to play against his parent club.
Danny Welbeck (hamstring), Joel Veltman (calf), Davy Propper (ankle), Solly March (knee), Tariq Lamptey (hamstring) and Jose Izquierdo (quad) are all injured.
Neal Maupay is suspended.
Possible Gunners lineup
The quartet of Tierney, Gabriel, Holding and Chambers is arguably the strongest defensive line we have at the moment.
Xhaka returns to the middle of the park after playing some minutes against Palace. We believe Partey will keep his place in the team even though he didn't show his best mid-week. Elneny deserves to start based on the latest games, but the duo of Granit and Thomas is the best we have.
Upfront, Auba should be dropped after offering nothing at Palace. Laca is set to take his place.
Martinelli should be put on the left as Saka has looked tired over the last few games and deserves a rest. ESR probably needs a rest too after playing 2 games without being subbed off. Odegaard will play as an advanced midfielder. Pepe needs to build on his good run and so, he is set to start on the right.
Stats to know
Arsenal are looking to complete their first league double over Brighton since the 1980-81 campaign. Indeed, the Gunners have won just two of their seven meetings with Brighton since the Seagulls were promoted to the Premier League (D2 L3).
Brighton won this exact fixture 2-1 last season, their first ever top-flight away win against Arsenal (D2 L4).
Arsenal haven't lost their final league game of the season since 2004-05 (1-2 vs Birmingham), and have won each of their last nine games to end a Premier League campaign.
When finishing a Premier League season at home, Arsenal have won each of their last 11 matches, with their last defeat coming in 1992-93 at the hands of Tottenham (1-3).
Brighton have won their final league game in just one of the last six campaigns (D3 L2), though this did come at Burnley last season (2-1).
Arsenal have taken just 25 points from their 18 Premier League home games this season (W7 D4 L7). If they fail to win here, it will be their lowest ever home points total in a Premier League campaign (currently 27 in 1994-95), while they last won fewer across a single campaign in 1912-13 (11).
Arsenal have won each of their last four Premier League games, last winning more consecutively in October 2018 under Unai Emery (a run of 7).
Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has scored in the final Premier League game in each of the last three campaigns. The last Arsenal player to score in their last league match in four consecutive campaigns was Alan Smith between 1988-89 and 1991-92.
Nicolas Pepe is looking to score in three consecutive games in all competitions for the first time in his Arsenal career. Only Alexandre Lacazette (20) has been directly involved in more goals for the Gunners than the Ivorian this term (19 - 14 goals, 5 assists).
No player has more Premier League assists in 2021 than Brighton's Pascal Groß (6), while only Mesut Ozil (54) and Leroy Sané (28) have more Premier League assists among German players than Groß (23) in the history of the competition.
Predictions
Mark Lawrenson, BBC: 2-0
"Arsenal have been going well - they have won their past four league games - which is typical Arsenal isn't it? It's all a bit late, really, but then they always seem to play well when the pressure is off them.
"Seventh place will get them into Europe next season, in the new Europa Conference League, but they could win a fifth game in a row and still miss out if either Tottenham or Everton win as well.
"As long as they do win, glorious failure wouldn't be the worst way for the Gunners to sign off for the season and the most important thing for them is to get the summer right, because they have not got too many right recently, in terms of recruitment. We wait with baited breath."
Daniel Lewis, Sportsmole: 2-1
"Given that Tottenham face Leicester and Everton travel to Man City on the final day, Arsenal have a strong chance of finishing in seventh spot with victory this weekend.
"The Gunners have not won five Premier League games in a row since October 2018 but, while Brighton did stun Man City in midweek, we can see them claiming all three points here."
Managers' quotes
Mikel Arteta
"The [fans] haven’t been at the stadium for a long time, we haven’t managed to be together so hopefully it will be a positive atmosphere to support the team and the team trying to give them some joy and win the game," Mikel Arteta told Arsenal's website.
"Anything that is in our hands to make them happy and to help us to be in a better place today, it’s all positive.
"[The Europa Conference League] is a new competition so I don't really know what will happen. First of all, let's try to finish as high as possible and then after we will determine, once we are involved, what the best way is to do it.
"We have experienced in the last few years how tough being in the Europa League is with the amount of games you play and the short turnaround that you have all the time in the Premier League.
"I think there is a lot of history there with teams that have been involved in the Europa League, and the negative consequences that has in the Premier League positions. But we've tried to give it the best possible go, we came a little bit short, but this club has to be in Europe."
Graham Potter
"They can still attack you from any area on the pitch, they’re making progress as a team, Mikel [Arteta] is making progress there," Graham Potter said during his press conference.
"They’re going to be strong, fighting for the points to get into Europe. From being written off a few months ago, they’re still in the fight and that’s a credit to them. They’re going to be a tough team."
