Roy Keane takes his Sunderland side into the final game of the season with a whole range of options. Already safe, Keane could keep faith with roughly the same side that completely bottled it against Bolton last weekend, but with a glut of loan players returning, the squad could be reshaped.

Keano could also decide to call up on a few of our youth team players and blood some kids for next season, although with Martyn Waghorn the only member of our successful Under 18s side to feature in the first team at all this season, that may well be a long shot. Injury-wise, we’re definitely without Dickson Etuhu (knee), Phil Bardsley (knee), Darren Ward (back) and David Connolly. From our fit players, Keano may drop Danny Higginbotham and put Dean Whitehead back at right-back after Nyron Nosworthy’s howler last weekend.

Seeing how Roy Keane said he could have made ten changes last weekend at the Reebok, this possible XI is really just a stab in the dark, but as a higher league position will give us more prize money, don’t assume that Keano’ll put out an inexperienced side for the hell of it!

Sunderland (possible XI): Gordon, Whitehead, Evans, Nosworthy, Collins, Edwards, Miller, Reid, K Richardson, Murphy, Jones.

Arsenal will say goodbye to Mathieu Flamini on Sunday, after the French midfielder agreed a free transfer to AC Milan during the close season. The Gunners could also see the final games of several more players, with Jens Lehmann’s contract coming up this summer, while Alex Hleb, Cesc Fabregas, Gilberto Silva and Philippe Senderos have all been linked with moves away. Arsene Wenger has Robin Van Persie (thigh), Abou Diaby (thigh), Sagna (ankle), Tomas Rosicky (hamstring) and Eduardo (broken leg) out with injury.

Arsenal (from): Fabianski, Lehmann, Almunia, Toure, Traore, Gallas, Song, Clichy, Eboue, Silva, Denilson, Walcott, Adebayor, Senderos, Bendtner, Djourou, Gibbs, Flamini, Fabregas.

SO FAR THIS SEASON
Sunderland
League Position: 15
Last Five Games: LWLLW
Top Scorer: Kenwyne Jones (7)

Arsenal
League Position: 3
Last Five Games: WWWLL
Top Scorers: Emmanuel Adebayor (30)

LAST TIME AT THE STADIUM OF LIGHT
Can you tell what the score was? A convincing defeat for the Lads was the result as Arsenal had the game all wrapped up by half time in May 2006. A frantic start by the Lads didn’t result in anything positive as Jens Lehmann wasn’t tested, but the Gunners weren’t having much luck in front of goal either, as they had to rely on an own goal from Danny Collins on 28 minutes, deflecting a Diaby header past Kelvin Davis, to give them the lead. We lost Jon Stead to injury minutes later, as Arsenal went wild, as Cesc Fabregas beat Daryl Murphy before scoring, with Thierry Henry adding to the tally with a free kick two minutes from the break. Kevin Kyle came close to pulling a goal back in the second half, while Kolo Toure was lucky not to give away a penalty on George McCartney, as the game ended on a sour note when Dan Smith’s two footed tackle on Abou Diaby broke the Frenchman’s ankle and put him out for almost a year.

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