Brighton travel to the Emirates as Arsenal look to qualify for the Europa Conference League

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The Gunners face the prospect of their first campaign without European football in 25 years, if they are unable to claim all three points when Brighton travel to the Emirates on the final day of the season.

Despite the inconsistent nature of Mikel Arteta’s side, they still have it all to play for heading into the last game of the season, and can give themselves the best possible chance of a place in the new Europa Conference League with a win over the Seagulls.

Unfortunately for the London club, even with a victory their fate can still be decided by other results, as they now need to rely on Tottenham and Everton dropping points against Leicester and Manchester City respectively.

The format and prizes of the new European competition remains unclear, however Arsenal will not want to be missing out on it, as they approach a crucial summer in the clubs rebuild. They could face significant ramifications in their pursuit of top transfer targets, therefore Arteta will be wanting to get his team across the line in front of the home support.

In the Spaniard’s latest press conference, he stressed the importance of a club the size of Arsenal to be competing in Europe:

“[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.”

Arsenal’s form since crashing out of the Europa League semi-final against Villarreal has improved drastically, as they’ve managed to conjure up four league wins in a row for the first time under Arteta, including an impressive victory at Stamford Bridge to complete a first league double over the Blues’ in 17 years.

The hosts record on the final day of the season is admirable, picking up maximum points on matchday 38 in each of the last nine campaigns, therefore they will be looking to extend this fine statistic and increase their momentum heading into the start of next season.

Brighton come into the game having beaten newly crowned champions Manchester City 3-2 last time out, in a game which saw them come from two goals behind to claim the victory. The performance was a testament to the job manager Graham Potter is doing and the attractive style of football he’s managed to implement in his short time at the club.

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The Seagulls status in the Premier League was secured a few weeks ago, however, their incentive will be to improve on the points total from last season. A point would be enough in order to do so and if they were to get a result, it would not only signify progress but the direction in which they are heading in recent times.

Despite their encouraging showings at the Emirates in the previous two fixtures, this time out they appear to be facing an uphill battle to have their best squad available from injury. Danny Welbeck will miss out on a return to his former club with a hamstring problem, while striker Neal Maupay is also unavailable as he starts the first of his three-match suspension.

The pair join a long list of absentee’s with Tariq Lamptey, Joel Veltman, Davy Propper and Solly March also out of contention, however the visitors have been boosted by the return of captain Lewis Dunk into the backline.

Hector Bellerin may have played his last game for Arsenal as the 26-year-old is widely expected to leave the club this summer, and after sustaining an injury against Chelsea he will be sidelined for the next couple of weeks.

David Luiz could face a similar fate, as he finds himself in a race to be fit before he leaves Arsenal when his contract expires in a months time. On-loan Brighton keeper Mat Ryan will also miss out due to being ineligible to face his parent club.

So will Arsenal be without European football for the first time in 25 years next season or will they find a way to beat Brighton and keep themselves in contention?

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