Plenty of defensive and offensive responsibility will fall on the shoulders of Emmanuel Eboue this afternoon. A player who can be fantastic one moment and then shaky the next. I expect Liverpool to defend narrowly with special attention being made to Walcott on that side so Eboue could find himself as the spare man at times. His powerful running could give space to others and could also make one of

After Manchester United lost their FA Cup semi final match to their neighbours and rivals Manchester City, victory today against Liverpool at the Emirates could very possibly change the momentum at both clubs. The phrase ‘must win’ is often bandied about but if this isn’t a must win game then I will eat my red and white hat.

The squad has been boosted with the return of some key players to give us pretty much a full strength squad apart from only a couple of individuals. That is almost unheard of in April for Arsenal. We could have done with that a few weeks earlier but it is what it is. Alex Song, Johan Djourou and Szczesny should all come back into the side giving the team a very strong feel to it. The only big player we have missing from the side is Bacary Sagna but Emmanuel Eboue who scored at Bloomfield Road last weekend gave the side an extra dimension going forward in his last outing.

I do not expect Daglish to go 4-4-2 at the Emirates so I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the impressive Suarez move to the left when defending and then pushing up to support Carroll when on the attack. It will be interesting to see how the battle between Eboue and Suarez pans out. If Eboue manages to push forward then he could force Suarez to run the opposite direction to protect his side. The Uruguayan forward is not opposed to working hard for his team. When Liverpool are attacking then Eboue will have to be switched on to deal with the intelligent and quick movement of Suarez.

Another very interesting and obvious match up will be the powerful Carroll against Djourou. Carroll is one of the best players that I have seen in a while at attacking balls in the air and Djourou appears to be our strongest defender from high balls. We will have to limit their service by keeping the ball and playing in the Liverpool half but even with 40% of the ball, Liverpool will still try to play difficult balls in our penalty box for our defence and keeper to deal with.

While most of the team looks pretty straight forward, I wonder if there is a selection problem for Arsene in center midfield. Alex Song’s fitness and sharpness will be important but if the manager believes that he is ready to play then the question marks then arise about Song’s partner. Jack Wilshere has been fantastic this season but has come off the boil a little in the last few weeks, perhaps the continuous games including that for the National team have taken its toll but he has now had a week of rest. Abou Diaby on the other hand is fresh and had a fantastic game against Blackpool last week, scoring one and contributing massively to another.

I suppose it is down to whether Wenger wants the extra power and running in midfield against the likes of Meireles, Lucas and Spearing. Or perhaps he feels the side need the guile and link up between the deep midfield and Cesc.

The other choice for Arsene is to choose between Arshavin and Walcott but I imagine that Theo will get the shout, especially considering his impact from the bench last weekend.

Mean Lean’s Predicted Line Up:

One to watch: Emmanuel Eboue

Plenty of defensive and offensive responsibility will fall on the shoulders of Emmanuel Eboue this afternoon. A player who can be fantastic one moment and then shaky the next. I expect Liverpool to defend narrowly with special attention being made to Walcott on that side so Eboue could find himself as the spare man at times. His powerful running could give important space to others and could also make one of their key players run towards his own goal but at the same time, Eboue will have to be at his best defensively as Suarez is getting better in every game he plays in.

Mean Lean’s Match Prediction:

Arsenal 2 (Song, Nasri) Liverpool 1

I expect a close contest between two teams who should work very hard to get something out of the game. It is important we dictate the game and press them high up the pitch from the first minute. With a week of rest and Walcott and Nasri in wide positions you would think that this would be very possible. Victory is a must if we are to put pressure on Manchester United at the top. It feels like a very long time since we won at the Emirates and now is the time to change that.

COME ON YOU GUNNERS.

If you missed the Q&A with Liverpool fan Tony from Anfield Red then you can read his responses here. You can also catch my responses to his questions on his own site here.