There is no chance of Arsene Wenger taking this game lightly and playing fringe players. I was listening to the Clock end podcast last night and a caller thought it would be sensible to rest Giroud for Bendtner. That just isn’t going to happen and neither is Theo Walcott playing up front in place of

The first question after the defeat at Old Trafford was about how the team would respond after setback, a convincing and professional display on the weekend gave us the answer, the next question could well be, can the team jump straight back onto a winning sequence just as they did post Aston Taylor FC.

‘Marseille at home is a good opportunity for us to strengthen our belief’ is the type of sentence I could hear our manager say but one thing the squad must guard against is complacency. Our opponents have yet to pick up a single point in this group and I remember my feeling after we won the first game in France. It was that we had won a difficult match, one that on another day, we could have dropped points. It was also relief that Marseille would more than likely take some points off our rivals. That hasn’t happened to date but I am still not totally convinced that they will finish the group stages with nil poi.

There have been a few rumours that Marseille given a tough fixture list in the next few weeks could rotate their squad a little as they have no chance of qualifying. I hope this is true, although fringe players coming in would arguably have more to play for as they try and push their way into the managers starting 11 for the important games.

There is no chance of Arsene Wenger taking this game lightly and playing fringe players. I was listening to the Clock end podcast last night and a caller thought it would be sensible to rest Giroud for Bendtner. That just isn’t going to happen and neither is Theo Walcott playing up front in place of Giroud. Arsene Wenger has always prioritised the Champions League alongside the Premier League as the most important competitions so I expect a full strength side tonight.

The one change I could see happening is that of Tomas Rosicky replacing Jack Wilshere who had 90 minutes. The 90 minutes was a bit of a give away really, had Arsene had thoughts of starting him tonight then it is more than likely that he would have been replaced on 70ish minutes.

Initially I thought Theo Walcott would start but now I wonder if it is too soon, especially when you consider the importance of the game. It puts us in a decent position should we need to get a goal. Wilshere and Walcott standing on the side high fiving and replacing Flamini and Rosicky with twenty minutes to go. Hopefully we will not be in that position to need a late goal but instead to save legs and give other legs some minutes.

Flamini is back available after missing the weekend game through suspension, a special game for him against his old club, perhaps a chance to rest Mikel Arteta who had to come off injured on the weekend, although reports suggested that he was ok to play this one if need be. I’m not sure if needs actually be, or something.

Mean Lean’s Predicted Line Up:

Our bench is looking rather impressive these days and that will be boosted even further when Podolski is ready for his return.

Should Arsenal win the game and Napoli avoid defeat in Dortmund then we can book our tickets for the next round. Good luck doing so before the draw mind.

Fingers crossed for a positive Arsenal result and hopefully an entertaining performance to match.