Cesc has recovered from injury and has been working hard to get back to full fitness, hopefully he can get on the ball and continue his early season form. Against Chelsea and Birmingham City we lacked that extra bit of quality outside their penalty area

Another Champions League night is almost upon us at the Emirates stadium. We continue to welcome back our ex players with the return of Eduardo da Silva and his new club Shakhtar Donetsk. Three points should see Arsenal qualify from the group in our first three games which could be vital for our domestic fixtures in the remaining Champions League games. Arsene could then save some of the more important players for domestic action.

With two victories already this competition, it could be easy for the players to think that they have the game won, especially in the comfort of the home support. That would be foolish as the Ukrainian club were title winners last season in their league and also managed to pick up the UEFA Europa cup.

Clearly, they are no mugs. Their brand of exciting, attacking football should make for an entertaining game this evening.

I wonder if Shakhtar get the same media treatment in their country for having so many Brazilian players in their squad. They currently have five Brazilians to select from and that is not including the Brazilian born Eduardo. One player to look out for is the highly talented and highly rated Douglas Costa.

He has electric pace and very quick feet, unlike many wide skilful dribblers he has great awareness around him and can quite easily act as the creative passer. Certainly an Arsene Wenger type of player if I’ve ever seen one.

Our fullbacks will certainly be tested and will need the help of the supporting midfielders to make sure that they can get the better of Costa especially on the break. I thought perhaps that Kieran Gibbs was going to start against Birmingham as Clichy has been playing for France but I would be gobsmacked if Clichy wasn’t rested for this one but maybe with their major threat possibly coming from his side, Wenger may continue with the senior Clichy ahead of Gibbs who is on his way back from injury. Even with that being the case, I still expect Arsene to select Gibbs in this instance.

Along with Gibbs, I expect Arsene to freshen up the team a little bit from the weekend. We have the luxury of having some fresh legs returning from injury. Captain Cesc Fabregas should return to the pull those strings and Theo Walcott who didn’t get on over the weekend could well get his start on the right. I am crossing fingers and toes that Theo’s recent injury does not set him back from where he left off back in August.

It was clear that we missed his right to left running off the ball at the weekend. Walcott will open up space for Cesc, Wilshere and co to exploit with their passing.

Denilson is also fresh but hasn’t featured very much so far this season which is interesting. When he has played, he has looked very sharp but it is a chance for Alex Song to get a breather but at the same time, Wenger will not want to make too many changes to his side at the same time.

Mean Lean’s Predicted Line Up

One to watch: Cesc Fabregas

Much of our attention has been on the precocious teenager in recent weeks, his quality has almost made supporters forget about the quality of our number 4. Cesc has recovered from injury and has been working hard to get back to full fitness, hopefully he can get on the ball and continue his early season form. Against Chelsea and Birmingham City we lacked that extra bit of quality outside their penalty area and our captain can provide that extra piece of vision or that threaded pass where others may not have seen. Let us hope that it is Cesc’s last injury of the season because we will need him over the coming months.

Mean Lean’s Match Prediction

Arsenal 4 (Cesc, Chamakh, Bendtner [2])  Shakhtar Donetsk 2

I am hoping that we get to see some good possession of the ball and a cutting edge that has deserted us at times this season, I am going for plenty of goals tonight. There are many attacking players on display and if we can win the game then I would be more than happy for Eduardo to grab a consolation goal for his new club. He is likely to start on the bench as he has done for most of his time in the Ukraine.

I miss the Eduardo of old, the ice cool killer in the box. When he finally settled into English football he went on a hot streak and when he missed, which was rare. We all looked shocked and horrified. Eduardo could have been an Arsenal great and I truly believed that he would be one of the clubs top goal scorers during that period until Martin Taylor and Birmingham City happened. He came back and scored in a fantastic emotional night at the Emirates in the cup and then the niggles started to happen along with the drop in form and confidence.

Hopefully he will force his way into this Shakhtar side and start banging in many goals for them. The many goals can come after tonight though. Good luck with your future Eddie but more importantly good luck tonight you lovely red and white’s.

COME ON YOU GUNNERS.