Arsenal travel to Middlesbrough on Monday night and are in desperate need of a win if they are to finish inside the top four this season, while Boro, who sit in 19th place in the Premier League, are six points adrift of safety.
So, courtesy of OPTA, here are 10 things you should know about both sides ahead of their meeting on Monday night:
1. Middlesbrough are unbeaten in their last four Premier League home games against Arsenal (W2 D2), although this will be the first meeting at the Riverside since December 2008.
2. Arsenal’s 7-0 win over Middlesbrough in January 2006 is their joint-largest margin of victory in Premier League history (alongside 7-0 v Everton in May 2005).
3. Middlesbrough have conceded more goals against Arsenal than against any other opponent in the Premier League (62 in 29 games).
4. Prior to the 0-0 draw in this season’s reverse fixture, Arsenal had scored in 16 consecutive Premier League games against them, winning 10 of those (D4 L2).
5. Olivier Giroud is the only current member of the Arsenal squad to have netted against Middlesbrough in any competition (two in the FA Cup).
6. Arsenal have lost four successive Premier League away games for the first time in Arsene Wenger’s reign at the club, with the previous run of four league away defeats in a row coming back in April 1995.
7. The Gunners haven’t lost five successive top-flight away games since December 26th 1984. The only Arsenal players to have appeared in the Premier League this season and be alive when this happened were Petr Cech (two years, 220 days old) and Santi Cazorla (13 days old).
8. Over each team’s last eight Premier League games, only West Ham (5), Sunderland (4) and Middlesbrough (3) have earned fewer points than Arsenal (7).
9. Middlesbrough are the least threatening side in front of goal in the Premier League this season; scoring just 22 goals and attempting only 78 shots on target in 31 games (less than three a match on average).
10. Arsenal are 14 points behind Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League table coming in to this matchday; the first time they’ve been 14-plus points behind them in the league table since
