The home team have the pacy Gabriel Agbonlahor returning from suspension so we have to make sure we do not leave too much grass for him to run into when Villa win the ball back. I also expect Agbonlahor to pull to the right and attempt to isolate Miquel. It is a big night for the youngster but he

After the disappointment of Sunday afternoon, we have a chance to jump back on the straight and narrow if we manage to score more and concede less than Aston Villa tonight at Villa park.

Those who actually pay any attention to my gibberish will already know that this game doesn’t quite sit right with me. Much of the explanation for my thoughts are due to the odious manager they have at the helm. Alex McLeish.

Our team were treated to the worst acts of physical violence on a pitch that I have ever seen at St Andrews last season. They took the whole ‘they don’t like it up em’ to a new level. Bowyer stamped on Sagna, Jerome karate kicked Laurent Koscielny, Roger Johnson flew in studs up on Cesc Fabregas and I am sure there were many more horrific assaults on our players that I have subconsciously erased from my memory.

I have little doubt that those sets of players were instructed to act in that way from their manager, I can imagine McLeish turning red faced in the dressing room before kick off, screaming about how his team needed to teach Arsene Wenger’s team a lesson. To hurt those foreign fancy dans.

I was so pleased to see his Birmingham City team get relegated and could not understand why a team like Aston Villa would hire such a dinosaur. But hey, I am being side tracked by a manager I probably detest more than any other in the league today. He is even detested by a large section of Villa fans.

Alex Song is suspended for the game after picking up five yellow cards and will be replaced by one of our young back ups, who that will be is anyone’s guess at this stage. Coquelin was ahead of Frimpong a few weeks ago and played very well at White Hart Lane but on Sunday Frimpong was on the bench and Coquelin was not in the squad. I do not quite know if that is down to form, fitness or attitude.

Wenger has to choose between technique or brawn tonight. Emmanuel Frimpong had a sensational game against Manchester City in the Carling cup recently and perhaps that display pushed him further up the ladder, we shall see.

Johan Djourou as we know is out for a while with a groin strain and Kieran Gibbs has had another set back so the back four will probably be how we finished Sunday’s game. That was actually the back four that I preferred before Sunday. Any potential positional lapses from Miquel can be rectified by the experienced Vermaelen at left center back.

With two enforced changes to our starting line up, I guess that Arsene may well be reluctant to rotate the squad any further but that problem will arise at some point during this hectic Christmas Period. If Arsene felt it necessary then Tomas Rosicky or Yossi Benayoun could replace one of the wide forwards or even Aaron Ramsey.

The home team have the pacy Gabriel Agbonlahor returning from suspension so we have to make sure we do not leave too much grass for him to run into when Villa win the ball back. I also expect Agbonlahor to pull to the right and attempt to isolate Miquel. It is a big night for the youngster but he has shown that he has the quality to prove himself once more this evening.

I tend to shy away from predictions these days as I usually get them wrong but I hope we are up for the fight today and also hope that Sunday hasn’t taken too much out of us. If we are not sharp enough on the night then I can see Villa frustrating us and even scoring a late winner and by gee, we do not want that. We may have to dig in and fight from the first moment to the last and hope that we can create chances. As usual, an early goal would do nicely from the boys in red and white.

To be fair, I would be more concerned if this was last season’s team but perhaps I have last season’s apprehension, hopefully we can do the business tonight, get the three points and get right back on track.

COME ON YOU GUNNERS.

Mean Lean’s Predicted Line Up