Arsene Wenger will wait until the last possible moment this week to name the winner of the mass audition taking place to find a new Arsenal goalkeeper - but the Frenchman admits he is still wondering how he will replace David Seaman.

"David is up there with the best I've seen like Peter Schmeichel," said Wenger. "At the moment I believe he's stronger and sharper than he was last season. We've brought in other goalkeepers over the years to, one day, replace him but the fact he's still there shows how difficult it is to do that. And I don't think I will be the only one facing that problem."

Wenger's words are a clear reference to the England future of Seaman, who will be 39 next month and is on a new one-year contract at Highbury despite admitting he was seriously thinking of quitting after making a hash of the freak goal by Brazil's Ronaldinho which knocked England out of the World Cup in the summer.

Friends and fans - he reckons he has received around 5000 letters on the subject since returning from the Far East - have encouraged him to carry on and Wenger said: "I don't believe he will stop playing for England yet. He knows his own body and he still wants to be number one. Like anyone who has a position like that in life he wants to keep it as long as he can and he will fight for it. That is how he is. You can say he's seen it all and done it all before but it looks now like he wants to do it all again."

Seaman, who kept a familiar clean sheet in the opening game of the season and helped champions Arsenal rescue a point from two goals down by making a penalty save and an even better stop from West Ham's Freddie Kanoute at Upton Park on Saturday, faces newly-promoted West Brom when the Gunners bid to stretch their amazing run of scoring in all their last 41 Premiership matches.

Wenger's attacking options have been diluted by the loss for at least two weeks of mercurial Dutch striker Dennis Bergkamp with a calf injury, but despite that anything less than a clear home victory over Albion would be unacceptable to the Highbury punters.

Albion, just up from the First Division, have suffered two successive defeats against Manchester United and Leeds at the weekend.

Boss Gary Megson knows they face another test of character against the double winners and asked what his game plan would be, Megson said: "We will try and do what we did against Manchester United, which is defend well and hopefully attack well. We can't do a great deal about the opposition.

"We don't have fantastic variation in our game plan because we don't have that luxury of a big squad. I'm asking our players just to give their best."

Megson got a boost when central defender Darren Moore reported for training after picking up a groin injury at the weekend.

HEAD TO HEAD NOTES

• This is the first Premiership meeting between these clubs, but Arsenal need to win to record 50 League victories of West Brom.
• The last three meetings between these two, all in the old League - Division One, were drawn.
• Arsenal's last home win over the Midlanders was 4-0 on 15 December, 1984 in the old First Division.
• The Baggies' most recent victory at Highbury was 19 years ago, 0-1 on 3 December, 1983.
• There's never been a goalless League draw between these clubs, nor has there ever been a player sent off.
• Malcolm Macdonald was the last player to bag a hat trick in this fixture. The England striker scored three of the goals in Arsenal's 4-0 win on 25 March, 1978.
• When the teams first met 100 years ago it was in Division Two, their only meeting outside the top flight.
• The Gunners biggest win in this fixture was 6-2 on 19 September, 1970.
• Albion's biggest victory in this match-up was 2-4 on 28 November, 1959.

Paul Durkin is the grand old man of the Premiership, even though, at 44, he's not technically that old. The Dorset born ref still lists his occupation as 'administrator', despite being vocal in his support of the professionalisation of the code.

Durkin has been a Premier League referee since its inception back in 1992, and is one of the most respected amongst managers and players. His handling of last 1999/2000's crunch tie between Manchester United and Arsenal drew particular praise, especially when the heated affair drew only one booking.

As you'd expect from one of the veterans, Durkin has been refereeing for some time - starting his career back in 1974 and progressing to the Football League in 1987. Highlights so far have been the 1998 FA Cup final between Arsenal and Newcastle and taking charge of matches during 1998 World Cup Finals in France.

Durkin's last European exposure came in the 1999 Uefa Cup semi-final between Parma and Athletico Madrid.