Arsene was saying that this group of players would be more likely to give a better account of themselves as they have something to prove and I guess he is right. They certainly did not look like pushovers against Manchester City last week and I expect them to give it a good go tonight. With the pressure off, hopefully the youngsters will go and express themselves without the fear of making

The last group game of the Champions League is often a time for tension, for concern for fear of elimination into the dark black hole that is the Europa League. That problem is not ours for this season as our boys have handed in their assignment with weeks to spare, leaving the last minute, late black coffee nights for our domestic counterparts. I hope they all miss the bloody deadline.

Tonight Arsene’s Carling Cup collection get the chance to strut their fancy stuff along with two extra’s who have joined the party. Thomas Vermaelen and Andre Santos have made up the numbers from the team that swiped away Wigan at the DW stadium over the weekend. Perhaps the players wanted some Brazilian tunes to help them relax pre match and Vermaelen is there to give some advice to Chamakh and Park about where the back of the net is.

Jokes aside, I hope that the only viewing of Santos and Vermaelen is when the camera pans on Arsene Wenger and our two players are in shot on the bench in the background behind the manager. I imagine that both players have been brought to add a little bit of experience to the squad and perhaps they will be used from the bench if need be. Or perhaps the manager believes that they have enough in the tank for an extra game.

Arsene was saying that this group of players would be more likely to give a better account of themselves as they have something to prove and I guess he is right. They certainly did not look like pushovers against Manchester City last week and I expect them to give it a good go tonight. With the pressure off, hopefully the youngsters will go and express themselves without the fear of making mistakes and the senior players can gain some valuable playing time to sharpen up those dusty boots.

What I do find very interesting is the strength of depth that we have available while we heard the complete opposite at the start of the season. Like I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, at least two players will not start the game who you would expect to start this type of game. This is of course without the likes of Gibbs, Jenkinson and Diaby who if were fit in the last week would have started tonight.

In the last round of the Caring Cup, Arsene has plumped for the 4-4-2 choosing to play both Chamakh and Park as a duo in attack but I am not sure if that will be on the menu this evening. I would imagine that we will continue with our usual system (4-2-3-1) and it will be either Chamakh or Park to lead the line and two of Rosicky, Benayoun or Frimpong.

I have my doubts about the use of the 4-4-2 because the game is away from the comfort of the Emirates so the home side could be more adventurous, especially given that they need to win to stand any hope of qualification to the knock outs. That system is also not a system that Arsene tends to use in European games, even during the 2003/04 team we used to switch Wiltord out to the right.

So a team that needs to win versus a team who has no fear of defeat should make for some entertaining viewing. Hopefully we can avoid defeat for starters and it would be great to get both Chamakh and/or Park a goal or two. I would love to see Rosicky and Benayoun playing together, two hard working ball players who would keep the ball very well but I am not sure if there will be room for the pair of them. I hope so. Arshavin needs a good performance and hopefully he can get just that tonight.

Alex Chamberlain is also another obvious player that we are all excited to see. According to Arsene he has been doing well in training and is coming along nicely right now. With the African nations only a month or so away the likes of Chamberlain, Arshavin and Benayoun need to be ticking the boxes because it will be down to them to replace the impressive Gervinho.

Whatever happens tonight, we can get to enjoy the match and hopefully they can do themselves proud.

COYG.

Mean Lean’s Predicted Line Up