The club says the new stadium, on a 25-acre industrial estate just half a mile from Highbury, will allow it to increase crowd capacity from 38,000 to 60,000, massively increasing earning potential.
The project also includes plans to relocate 80 businesses to build new flats, offices, cafes, bars and restaurants on the land, which Arsenal says will create 3,900 new homes and 2,300 jobs.
The planning application, originally submitted in November 2000, has been revised several times to take account of earlier objections from the Mayor, Islington council, and the Government-backed Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment.
Opponents to the scheme, who fear an impact on local jobs and transport, have vowed to press for a public inquiry by Stephen Byers, Secretary of State for Transport, Local Governmentand the Regions. He could in theory block it or ask for yet more revisions.
However, the backing of both Islington council and the Mayor - who has to consider the scheme's wider impact on the capital - means they will have a formidable task in proving that such an inquiry is still in the public interest.
A spokeswoman for the Mayor's office said he would announce his decision some time after a meeting in private with his planning officials tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Marcel Desailly said today that he is convinced French team-mate Patrick Vieira will stay at Arsenal because England is "made for him". Vieira nearly left the club last June before being persuaded to stay by manager Arsene Wenger. The club are now hoping for Vieira, who has two and a half years left on his contract, to follow Wenger and commit to a new deal.
So far that hasn't happened but Chelsea defender Desailly says that shouldn't cause concern. "There are always rumours (about whether Vieira will stay in English football) but from a personal point of view I can tell you how much he likes England.
"This is a country made for him. People might say he is on his way to Italy. I know he won't go back there because he saw for himself what the country, its championship, and the everyday life are made of. Okay there might be a bit of passion but all stadia are not full, only when it's a big game.
"There is constant hassle for the players and a lack of respect from a certain category of supporters. He has perfectly adjusted to English culture made of openness, respect and passion.
"The English approach is sometimes a little amateurish. In the way they sometimes train or eat, it is certainly less professional.
"But besides that there is a positive culture. There is passion without exaggeration. Italy is very much at the other end of the scale - with excess. They always go over the top. England for that reason is successful."
