On Sunday afternoon, 2,687 Arsenal supporters will take their seats in the Arthur Wait Stand at Selhurst Park and watch us lift the Premier League trophy. It will be the first time in our history that we have received the league title at an away ground. All three previous presentations, in 1998, 2002 and 2004, took place at Highbury. The circumstances that brought us here are straightforward: we won our final home match against Burnley on Monday, Manchester City drew 1-1 with Bournemouth on Tuesday, and the title was confirmed while our players were together at the training ground. There was no home fixture left. Selhurst Park it is.

I have waited 22 years for this. Many of you have waited longer. Some of you were not born the last time Patrick Vieira lifted the Premier League trophy on a May afternoon at Highbury, and now you will see Declan Rice or Martin Odegaard do it 14 miles south, in the away end of a ground where we have rarely had easy afternoons. The trophy presentation will happen after the final whistle, and I expect a significant number of our supporters to have made their way to Selhurst Park without tickets, because this is the kind of day that pulls people towards the ground whether they can get in or not.

Nothing, in league terms. We are champions with 82 points from 37 matches, five clear of Manchester City, and whatever happens on Sunday cannot change the final table. Crystal Palace are 15th, safe, and have their own European final to prepare for: the Conference League final against Rayo Vallecano in Leipzig on Wednesday. Oliver Glasner, who will leave Palace at the end of the season, is managing his final match at Selhurst Park. Both managers will rotate. Both will protect players. The match itself is a formality that exists to complete the fixture list and to give us the platform for the trophy lift.

That does not mean the afternoon is meaningless. Arteta was clear at his press conference on Thursday: he wants to finish the league season with a performance that carries into Budapest. We play PSG in the Champions League final six days after this match. The habits, the intensity, the concentration that we bring to Selhurst Park will tell us something about where our heads are before the biggest game in the club's modern history.

Mikel Merino returns to full training on Friday, which is significant. Merino has been out since ankle surgery in February and his absence from midfield has been the one injury that most visibly altered our shape. If he trains fully this week, a place on the bench on Sunday is plausible, and a role in Budapest becomes a genuine possibility. Arteta described his progress in careful terms: he will start training with the group, and the staff will assess from there.

Jurrien Timber is further behind. Arteta's language was less optimistic: "Let's hope he can do the same in the next few days". Timber has missed the last five matches and the nature of the injury has never been formally confirmed. If he does not train by Saturday, he is unlikely to feature at Selhurst Park, and his availability for the Champions League final becomes a serious concern. Ben White is already confirmed out for the rest of the season with a knee ligament injury sustained at West Ham.

The right-back position, which has defined our concerns for the last two weeks, will be answered on Sunday in one way or another. Whoever starts there against Palace is the most likely candidate for Budapest.

Palace have had a strong season by their own standards. They won the FA Cup last year, won the Community Shield at the start of this campaign, and are now three days from a Conference League final. Ismaila Sarr has been one of the signings of the season, and Marc Guehi continues to be a defender whose composure belongs at a higher level than 15th in the Premier League. Glasner has built something at Selhurst Park, and his departure will be felt.

They are missing Chadi Riad, Chris Richards, Borna Sosa, Cheick Doucouré and Eddie Nketiah. Glasner will prioritise Leipzig, as he should. I would expect a significantly rotated Palace side, mirroring what Arteta will do for Budapest.

Eberechi Eze returns to Selhurst Park for the second time since leaving Palace. He scored the only goal when we won 1-0 here in October, a match in which the reception from the Palace supporters was warm before kickoff and progressively less warm as he ran the game. Eze arriving back at Selhurst Park as a Premier League champion, having never won a trophy during his time at Palace, is the kind of detail that carries weight on a day like this.

A professional performance, regardless of the scoreline. A clean bill of health for every player who takes the field. No unnecessary risks with anyone who will be needed in Budapest. And then the trophy.

Arteta said on Thursday that he wants the parade, which is scheduled for the day after the Champions League final, to feature two trophies. That is the ambition. Sunday is the first step: collect the Premier League trophy, celebrate with the supporters who have waited 22 years, and then turn every ounce of focus towards PSG.

I said in my piece after the title was confirmed that I watched the Bournemouth-City match alone, at 4am, in a dark room. Sunday will be different. Sunday will be loud, public, and shared with thousands of other people who carried this wait the same way I did. I do not care about the result at Selhurst Park. I care about the moment after it.