Chelsea will be strong even with a second side because like I said, they have a squad without many injuries as well as great quality. Juan Mata will have to be dealt with and the man responsible may well be young Isaac Hayden. He should be playing in front of the back four tonight, in the area that Mata likes to occupy. Talk about being thrown into the deep end. That said, I am sure we will have to

Rock and hard place time tonight for Arsene Wenger. Play a side not strong enough to win and will be accused in some quarters of throwing a cup competition, play a team with too many first teamers and be accused (probably by the same people) as not rotating when he needs to.

We would be a lot stronger tonight had we been able to call on the services of Arteta, Flamini, Chamberlain, Zelalem and Podolski. Our old foe called injury has taken those choices away from us whilst Chelsea have a much healthier squad to select from.

The back four and keeper should be a relatively straight forward choice. The only decision may well be which of the first team centre backs will have to put in overtime. It was Per Mertesacker at West Brom so maybe Arsene will go with Koscielny this time round. Unless Arsene goes for balance over minutes played.

Chelsea will be strong even with a second side because like I said, they have a squad without many injuries as well as great quality. Juan Mata will have to be dealt with and the man responsible may well be young Isaac Hayden. He should be playing in front of the back four tonight, in the area that Mata likes to occupy. Talk about being thrown into the deep end. That said, I am sure we will have to defend well as a team to snuff out Chelsea’s attacking threats.

Serge Gnabry is a doubt for tonight and is quite possibly why he was removed after coming on as a substitute at the weekend. I hope he makes it because his performances this season deserves games at this level. It is amazing when you consider that his worst game for us was when he played with more players of his own age group against West Brom last round. Even last season when he made a few first team cameos, he made an instant impact.

Ryo could start ahead of Santi Cazorla if Arsene decides to use the Spaniard from the bench, he has yet to make an impact for Arsenal so this would be a fabulous stage to make that impact. Personally I’d like to see Ryo start from the bench. Arsene may decide to approach the game as he did against Dortmund. Try and contain Chelsea and then hit them later on, this time without the mistakes would be nice.

Mean Lean’s Predicted Line Up:

Soccerbase

I am expecting a tight and cagey affair, both teams will not want to lose rather than going all for the win. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the game go into extra time, have a look at www.soccerbase.com for the odds they have available for tonights game.

Only a quick write up today, I will do my best to make up for it post match.

Come on Arsenal!