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Football London
Football London
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Tashan Deniran-Alleyne

The three Everton players Frank Lampard will be without against Arsenal and Mikel Arteta

Arsenal are aiming to end the season on a high - and by some miracle qualify for the Champions League - when they welcome Everton to the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Having been in control of the top-four race just under a fortnight ago after beating Leeds United at home, back-to-back defeats at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United have left the Gunners needing a massive favour from Norwich City in order to seal a return to Europe's elite club competition for the 2022/23 campaign.

For this to happen, Arsenal must beat Everton and hope an incentivised Canaries squad can spring a surprise at Carrow Road by beating Spurs. Failing that, a draw in Norfolk would leave Mikel Arteta's side needing a 16-goal margin of victory to finish fourth on goal difference.

READ MORE: Granit Xhaka sends Tottenham message as Mikel Arteta plots Premier League top-four hijacking

With that said, facing a Toffees side who secured their Premier League survival on Thursday night will make things interesting in North London as Frank Lampard is set to ring the changes now that the pressure is off. Although, he insists his players will be going all out for the win.

"I will relax more, and I don't mean that in a light-hearted way because I understand Arsenal and Tottenham are in a battle, and we'll go and do our absolute best to approach the game in the right way," he told the club's official website. "At the same time, we've not had that luxury - others have, and we saw that playing against Brentford and then again against Palace in the first half. There's something nice about 'relaxing'.

"Since my first day here, we've not had chance to do that, and maybe that's the Premier League, but our situation also added to that. It'll be nice for the players to have that feeling. A couple of players who maybe haven't had opportunities will get opportunities, but we'll be going full pelt to try to get the right result."

It remains to be seen who Lampard will hand opportunities to at the Emirates, but the Liverpool Echo have speculated that the likes of Asmir Begovic, Dele Alli and Donny van de Beek could start whilst Jarrad Branthwaite is available again after serving his one-game ban against Crystal Palace.

The Arsenal game has long been earmarked for Yerry Mina's return from a calf injury, so he may face a late fitness test, but Salomon Rondon (suspension) joins long-term absentees Nathan Patterson (ankle) and Andros Townsend (ACL) as the three Everton players Lampard will be without at the Emirates.

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