Welbeck, Propper and Veltman to miss trip to Arsenal

Albion head to Arsenal on Sunday knowing avoiding defeat will see them finish with a club record Premier League points tally.

Graham Potter guided Albion to the current record in his first season in charge – finishing with 41 in the 2019/20 campaign.

His side matched that tally with the 3-2 win over Manchester City on Tuesday, with the threat of relegation well and truly behind them.

Tuesday proved to be a special occasion for Albion, as a near-8000 crowd witnessed a come-from-behind victory over City – a first win over the champions in the Premier League era.

The Gunners will be buoyed by their own limited capacity crowd at the weekend, with 10,000 supporters set to get behind Mikel Arteta’s team.

Albion enjoyed a league double over Arsenal last season – both 2-1 wins – but the Gunners got some revenge with a 1-0 victory at the Amex in December.

Arsenal have it all to play for on Sunday – a place in the European Conference League could be theirs as well as the incentive of finishing above rivals Tottenham.

Potter’s men know that not only will they beat their record tally with a win, but could finish a record high of 13th, depending on results elsewhere. 

Team news

Graham Potter revealed that Danny Welbeck, Davy Propper and Joel Veltman will all miss the trip to the Emirates.

"Danny [Welbeck] will miss out with a hamstring injury, he will take a break for the summer now and be ready for pre-season. Davy Propper isn’t too far away but this game comes a bit too soon and it’s the same with Joel [Veltman]. We add Lewis Dunk back into the squad after his suspension ended."

Subs not used: Karbownik, Connolly, Tau, Steele, Caicedo, Walton.

Their last fixture

Arsenal: Leno, Chambers, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney (Martinelli 77), Partey (Xhaka 77), Elneny, Saka (Odegaard), Smith Rowe, Pepe, Aubameyang.

The Arsenal player to watch

Arsenal’s record signing Nicolas Pepe has certainly started to show why the Gunners splashed out £72 million on the former Lille winger. Mikel Arteta praised the 25-year-old earlier on this week for finding a consistency to his game having initially struggled to find his feet in north London. With three goals in his last two outings, Pepe will be hoping to notch one against Albion once again, having scored an exceptional goal at the Amex last season.

Match officials

Referee: Jonathan Moss.

Assistants: Marc Perry, Timothy Wood.

Fourth official: Dean Whitestone.

VAR: Simon Hooper.

Assistant VAR: Derek Eaton.