Gallas and Silvestre’s injuries means that the back four automatically pick itself. Van Persie and Adebayor will be partnered again so the only question marks appear in midfield

The players are fresh, well the fit ones anyway, the busy Christmas period should be out of the system, it is now time to take a deep breath in and hit this second half of 2009 running. We are still short in terms of players mainly through injury but the players who are ready for action should have enough in their locker to beat the likes of Bolton.

So far the season has been pretty stop start, very stuttery (Is that even a word?) I hope and pray that this young side can start to bring on positive consistency and learn from 2008 mistakes.

We welcome (if you want to call it that) Bolton to the Emirates stadium which has always been a strange sensation in the past. Bolton at least under their former manager had a reputation for being Arsenal’s bogey team but actually our record against them was much better than you would imagine. I suppose parking the preverbal bus in front of Arsenal at Highbury then grinding out a 1-1 draw is seen as a great result against Arsenal and they managed a few of those as well as some horrible victories especially at the Reekbok stadium.

This time round Bolton are a little different, they do not have Sam Allardyce in charge anymore which was a massive factor in the Bolton set up but they still have thugs players like Kevin Davies on their books.

At least Kevin Nolan is sitting out the game through suspension along with Gretar Steinsson.

Bolton have lost 5 of their last 6 matches, and their only victory was against the out of sorts Portsmouth during this period, so really and truly we should win the game but as always it usually depends on the players approach to the game.

Hopefully the fact that Bolton have a reputation for upsetting us should generate the required commitment from the players.

Gallas and Silvestre’s injuries means that the back four automatically pick itself. Van Persie and Adebayor will be partnered again so the only question marks appear in midfield.

I am trying to second guess the manager by choosing Alex Song in my line up, he will know that Bolton are a big physical side and Song along with Diaby can combat that. Wenger could play Eboue on the right to add balance and leave out Denilson or Diaby but I cannot see those two players being left out different reasons so I expect Eboue to take a place on the bench.

Over the last few games Nasri has been rotating with Bendtner, switching from the wide area to a central area, I hope this continues with Van Persie, but from the right hand side of the pitch and not the left. Van Persie is dangerous coming in from the right as he does with his International side. Van Persie played from the right in the latter stages of the game against West Ham away and he looked good.

Mean Lean’s Predicted Line Up

Mean Lean’s Match Predictions

I expect Arsenal to beat an out of sorts Bolton, although being out of sorts doesn’t always make a difference to sides who play against Arsenal. Bolton to play against Hull City is completely different as they are expected to play and win football matches. Against Arsenal, another teams focus is stopping us playing instead of playing themselves. That is why you will get teams getting results against us and then get beaten by a lesser side a week later.

I predict the strikers to be on the score board today, Adebayor to score in the first half with Van Persie and Bendtner (from the bench) adding the second and third goals in the second half.

Almost as important as the result is to hope that we do not pick up anymore injuries to our squad members.

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