The captain returns to the squad and although we have managed back to back victories against Porto and Hull City, his presence can never be forgotten about. Our heartbeat will be looking to hit the ground running

As I am writing this match preview on Friday, you will have to forgive me if I am a little distracted. The name Barcelona have been floating around my head since late morning. I hope the players are not in the same frame of mind as myself. West Ham football club should be the only team that we should be thinking and focusing about.

This could be quite a big weekend of football. Arsenal have a good chance to continue our good home record by beating the struggling Hammers at the Emirates whilst Manchester United have to entertain probably their biggest rivals Liverpool, at Old Trafford. A shell-shocked Chelsea travel to Sam Allardyce’s cloggers, Blackburn Rovers.

Every set of fixtures is no longer just about Arsenal, we have to look out for the results of our nearest and not so dearest. Unfortunately the ball is not quite in our court just yet, it will take a couple of weeks in our favour for that to be the case.

Last season in the same fixture, we ended the game feeling very frustrated as West Ham went against their managers philosophy and played to stop us from playing football.

This year, finding the breakthrough has not been as difficult as it was last year. Hopefully it will be even less of a worry as Cesc Fabregas and Tomas Rosicky are fit and ready to join the squad. Alex Song will also be free from his suspension and should be fresh and raring to go again after jumping up and down celebrating last minute goals at home.

West Ham have thrown a spanner into our works over the last few seasons. This season we were winning 2-0 and cruising at Upton Park until a Mannone mistake and an awful refereeing decision gave West Ham the chance to score from the spot and equalise. How I would swap our FA Cup win for those two extra points.

Although the Hammers are fighting for their lives at the foot of the table, I have always been pretty impressed with the quality of their football whenever I have seen them play. The likes of Carlton Cole and Diamanti are good enough to cause Arsenal problems if they are not focused and switched on enough.

One to watch: Cesc Fabregas

The captain returns to the squad and although we have managed back to back victories against Porto and Hull City, his presence can never be forgotten about. Our heartbeat will be looking to hit the ground running, and fingers crossed that his passing radar is on point from the very beginning.

Theo Walcott could well start on the right, and if he does then I expect Fabregas to be looking to play him in whenever possible.

Mean Lean’s Predicted Line Up

All of the players start from scratch again after a week without football, so I do not expect Arsene to try and rest any players including Sol Campbell. Tomas Rosicky may be fit to start but I expect Arsene to choose the more direct option in Theo Walcott. Having said that I do not remember many occasions when both Arshavin and Nasri were fit and were left out of the team.

I am happy to see our midfield trio all be available for the first time since we beat Liverpool on February 10th, which was seven games ago.

I am guessing that Wenger will have two choices to make, will it be Nasri ahead of Walcott and will Eboue continue to be Wenger’s home attacking right back instead of the more defensively sound Sagna.

Mean Lean’s Match Prediction

Like many of the games to come, this is another must win. Especially at home in front of the Ashburton faithful. West Ham have been pretty defensive away from home and I expect them to adopt similar tactics to the ones they brought to the Emirates last season. I hope we can get an early goal which will force them out so we can pick them off as they game goes on.

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