- Minute-by-minute updates from the 8pm GMT kick-off
- Bruce turns to brutal honesty as moment of truth looms
- Thoughts on the game? Email Will or tweet him
Richard Hirst says: “I have, unusually, some sympathy with Steve Bruce’s outburst. If highly paid professional footballers can’t play more than one system then maybe they should cease to be highly paid professional footballers and start lumping a ball about on Hackney Marshes, or the Newcastle equivalent thereof.”
One of many outbursts here ...
Related: 'Gloves are off': Steve Bruce lets rip at Newcastle players amid tactics rift
Get in the mood ...
Related: Mikel Arteta praises 'phenomenal' Granit Xhaka for rallying after red card
Tom Collins emails to say: “Flashback with that Carroll goal. On a relatively rare foray into the big smoke in 2010 happened to be in a weird refectory style bar in Camden Market with some suitably retro shirted Arsenal fans in close proximity for that goal. Suffice to say no one else present was interested in the slightest!”
Camden Market is pretty awful.
Our man at the match, Nick Ames, says it is freezing at the Emirates. Could this be important? No. But it will be very funny to laugh at how cold Nick is.
Maybe Andy Carroll is playing in the hope he can repeat this ...
A towering header from @AndyTCarroll back in 2010.
For more memorable wins at Arsenal
Partey is back for Arsenal, which is good news for them. Cedric Soares gets a rare outing at right-back, as Bellerin left on the bench, one assumes to rest the Spaniard.
Steve Bruce starts with Joelinton, Wilson and big ANDY CARROLL. This could be a fun night for all involved.
Arsenal: Leno, Soares, David Luiz, Holding, Tierney, Partey, Xhaka, Saka, Smith Rowe, Aubameyang, Lacazette
Subs: Runarsson, Bellerin, Gabriel, Elneny, Willock, Willian, Pepe, Martinelli, Nketiah
I like to think of tonight’s fixture as a battle of the Premier League’s great underachievers. Both have been ruddy awful by their standards for a few years. The Gunners have won the odd FA Cup in recent times but their league form has been wonderfully mediocre, starting today’s game in 11th, two points behind Aston Villa who will have played four games fewer by the time this match finishes.
Mikel Arteta has brought inadvertent hope by being forced to give youth a chance, as opposed to his merry band of overpriced men. Emile Smith Rowe has shown the promise thanks to his eagerness to succeed at Arsenal, a trait rarely seen in the departed Mesut Ozil. There will be no fans inside the Emirates tonight but few would have mourned his exit to Fenerbahce after a farcical final year in north London.