The final weekend of the Premier League season is upon us, the drama stretched for another 36 hours to suit the Sunday television schedule. Confidence going into the match is probably at its highest. A decent spell of results, if not always performances, has bred optimism in the fans. It has been an almost reverse to what you would have expected; nervousness before Wigan, bullishness now. It is curious that the last game of the season was viewed more positively than the last home game.

Twice – 1993/94 and 1999/2000 – Arsenal have played at St James Park on the last day of the season, both have ended in defeat, 0 – 2 and 2 – 4 respectively. Neither game had anything riding on them. Arsenal could not finish any higher than 4th or 2nd in either case, nor could they finish any lower. History in this case, is bunk.

It has been a rare occurrence that the final day result has actually meant anything. On the quartet of occasions in his reign when results have mattered, Arsène has been able to motivate the team to produce the right outcome; a win. Confidence can be borne of that experience, as can complacency but this time, it feels a little different. Defeat on Tyneside – when it matters – would have a negative impact on the players going into next season. Having worked hard to be masters of their own destiny, it would be a fairly bruising blow to make a pig’s ear of it and put themselves into the Europa League next year. That is key for tomorrow, their own vested interest. It is more than just finishing as high as you can; each utterance about European football is always in the context of the Champions League, as Arsène himself noted,

What is at stake is a desire to stay at the top. To play top-level European football. There is a difference between the Champions League and Europa League. The Champions League features the best teams. That’s what we want to do. The financial consequences are big but that is not the most important thing for me.

If they fail to qualify for the Champions League, you can bet that the Arsenal players will be looking forward to the challenge of the Europa League and of what difficult sides, what good teams, lie in wait.

Wenger believes the players are in the right frame of mind to produce the win, you would not expect anything less in that sense. Theo Walcott suggested earlier this week that there was an iron fist inside the velvet glove during the half-time break against Wigan. Whatever the rocket delivered, it had the desired effect. Once they had settled into their rhythm, the visitors could not cope with Arsenal’s attack. That response was one of the better performances in a while. At this stage of the season, arguably the performance is nowhere near as important as the result.

For years, a common complaint has been that Arsenal could not grind out results, play badly and win. The minute that they do, the performance suddenly becomes more important. Of course performances matter to some degree. To turn up every week and be shambolic is not likely to produce any sort of consistency in results over weeks or months. It is often overlooked that the current Premier League run is one defeat in fifteen games. Not every performance can obliterated opponents, in the same way that not every result was scraped out; the balance was somewhere in the middle.

The metaphorical handbrake has been applied on several occasions, particularly away from home. It has seemed as if there was a strong desire not to lose, not to concede, has been the overriding philosophy on entering the pitch. Take the sting out of your opponents by not conceding early. Eleven goals in fifteen games is impressive enough but does not shout about the seven clean sheets. When you don’t concede, winning is made a bit easier. The attack does suffer but by comparison, not that much. Last season saw 74 Premier League goals scored, with one game to go, 71 this time around. Goals are shared amongst the team more readily, the over-reliance on one player eschewed. Of course, the season is not linear, individual results can skew goal difference in either direction. Like all headline statistics, they reflect glory and mask problems all in one go.

What they have done is begin to create a feeling of, invincibility is too strong a word, but certainly of resilience, to use Arsène’s favoured descriptor.

Winning tomorrow is all that matters, anything else relies on Tottenham capitulating as in previous seasons. I do not hold out any hope of that, di Canio’s fighting words are as empty as Pardew’s flippancy. Sunderland will go to White Hart Lane hoping to win but concede a goal? They will collapse in the same way that teams have done so to Arsenal on previous occasions. No reliance can be placed upon the failings of others. It will be their own work by which Arsenal stand or fall.

’til Tomorrow.

Attention turns towards Sunday and whether or not the circumstances will prevail to afford the Premier League the opportunity to put their 39th game into practice. It seems unlikely but then who would have thought that a player would suffer ridicule for wearing a full kit under a suit to celebrate a victory in a European final in which he played no part and then repeat the feat twelve months later? OK, most people probably assumed John Terry would do it and a hundred pub quiz organisers now have a question for future years.

Chelsea’s triumph raises uncomfortable questions for some. Their success makes them the first English side to win all the European trophies – Champions League, Cup Winners Cup, Europa League (UEFA Cup) and Super Cup – and begs the question: Champions League failure or Europa League success?

Thursday night football is ridiculed the length and breadth of the land, mainly when mentioned in sentences containing Tottenham. The reality is that a sizable number of people would rather no European football at all than take part in the Europa League. No-one ever comes up with a real reason why. Some will cite the financial impact of not being in the Champions League but Europa League revenues will mitigate that loss to a small degree; something is better than nothing. Most of the arguments centre on claims that failure to qualify for the premier tournament will mean this, that or the other not happening rather than the Europa League itself; it is, it seems, a convenient scapegoat.

Chelsea’s triumph last night is today being ridiculed, elimination from the Champions League should not be rewarded with the Europa League. The basis of that argument is flawed; Arsenal have taken that route before, the fundamental difference being that we lost the 2000 UEFA Cup Final to Galatasaray. It is a flimsy argument which does not stand scrutiny.

The real tragedy of this is the low esteem in which the junior competition is held. The UEFA Cup was highly thought of, frequently cited as the most difficult of the three to win. The Cup Winners Cup? Well, that was almost the same as the Europa League in this respect but nonetheless, it still counted for something. The cash cow of the Champions League expansion eroded the UEFA Cup’s shine and instead of a fatted calf, the Europa League has become the black sheep. Its path is similar to the Football League Cup. It is still a competition but is routinely dismissed, only acceptable when defeat is a reason for complaint. If losing hurts that badly, something must be worth winning?

For most, the Europa League is better than nothing. Empty weeks whilst others enjoy their time on foreign fields would soon bring home the reality. Missing out entirely would be a terrible feeling. You might not agree with that now but just pray that scenario never comes true. Those of us who are old enough to remember the ban on English clubs in Europe will remind you at some point of the English Super Cup and other misguided ideas that the footballing authorities had to fill the gaps. Then we were fortunate to some degree; there was not wall-to-wall television coverage of the game. Miss out now and every European matchday would be a stake driven through your footballing soul.

A fair point was made in terms of the sides the manager would field. If his view is the Europa League is an irritant, we will see a League Cup approach, something which would be fundamentally wrong. That said, if he strengthens the squad as most hope in the Summer, there is every reason to believe that the second string will be reasonably strong. Good enough to win the home games. That complacency on this writer’s part should not be replicated on the pitch though.

Winning at St James Park would render this irrelevant. It is strange to read that people were more nervous and concerned about Tuesday night than Sunday. For me, irrespective of their win over Manchester City, Arsenal had enough quality to deal with Wigan at home, especially with the game coming relatively quickly after Wembley.

Uefa’s fining of the FA worked in Arsenal’s favour, showing how money-orientated the game is. It also underlined the imbalance in priorities that scheduling a Premier League fixture on a Champions League night cost the FA £1m. It puts their disciplinary efforts over racism into perspective, the fines which routinely struggle to get into five figures are deemed sufficient but upsetting a broadcaster which has a limited market anyway? Obviously that is more important…

Failure to beat either of the Merseyside teams at home in recent months, coupled with Tottenham’s surprising show of character, has led to Sunday being a winner takes all fixture. A quirk of fate leaves the fans of opposing North London teams supporting the efforts of rival Tyne & Wear clubs. Not that I have any high hopes of Sunderland doing anything other than rolling over and having their tummies tickled. At least Arsenal know that their own efforts will this time see them through to shining light of the Champions League. Or into the eighth circle of footballing Hell for some: Thursday Night Football.

’til Tomorrow.