I want Bacary Sagna back in the team by Bolton at the very latest but I really would like the youngster Nico Yennaris to be given a chance, especially after his very good 45 minutes in the second half against Manchester United. The former striker has yet to put a foot wrong since making the step up to the first team. I would love to see the youngster start today, his pace could be vital

If I am truly honest with you then I wish we were playing for three points in the league this afternoon, our league position and need for a top four finish has left me unable to sleep at night. Not literally of course but it is dominating my Arsenal thoughts at present. Perhaps modern football has taken me with it but an FA cup win currently feels like a potentially tasty desert without the filling main course meal. I hope many of you disagree with me and the chance of cup success still provides the same excitement as it did with me in the past.

Anyway, I am rather selfishly mumbling on about the strange goings on in my head rather than the upcoming clash with Aston Villa, so let us get on with that.

Regular readers will know how much I detest the manager sitting on the visitors bench today. Possibly more than I detest anyone else and that is saying something with the likes of Tony Pulis continuously doing their best to top the league. More important than any of that, victory is needed to get this wobbly vehicle back on the straight and narrow and that is why I expect Arsene to play his strongest possible team. Getting the team back to winning ways, back to playing with confidence could possibly be a larger incentive than reaching the next round in the FA Cup.

There is a thumping on the door and behind that door is a collection of much needed Arsenal players returning back from injury. We could potentially see Mikel Arteta, Bacary Sagna and Thierry Henry all in the squad and with Kieran Gibbs returning back to training on Monday that can be the injection of quality and reinforcements that we have missed during the whole of this miserable January.

I suspect that Arsene will have our league trip to Bolton in mind so I wonder if those who are returning will take a place on the bench or if Arsene wants to get his returning players up to scratch as soon as possible, I suppose it depends on their fitness.

I want Bacary Sagna back in the team by Bolton at the very latest but I really would like the youngster Nico Yennaris to be given a chance, especially after his very good 45 minutes in the second half against Manchester United. The former striker has yet to put a foot wrong since making the step up to the first team. I would love to see the youngster start today, his pace could be vital when up against the counter attacking speed of Villa. We would then have the possibility of bringing Bacary Sagna on with 15 to go if the circumstances allowed that change. It seems as if full backs are like London buses, you wait for months for one and all of a sudden four come along at once.

My hopes of Yennaris being given a chance today have taken a slight dent as Sagna’s wife has hinted on Twitter that his husband who I may add is the best right back in the league could well start the game. So we shall wait and see.

I have changed my mind a few times already about what I think Arsene may do with our team and that can only be a good sign. Predicting the team has been pretty straight forward in the last few months because options have been so limited due to the usual injury pile up. For all I know Arteta, Sagna and Henry could start the game today.

I am pretty confident about a spirited performance from the players, at least from the first whistle. Captain Robin van Persie has spoken about the squad starting from scratch, Arsene has bemoaned the first half effort last week so I would be very surprised to see the team go through the motions today. We just have to hope that our quality is right on the day and we can score some bloody goals.

While we have had a collection of defensive injuries, we simply have not scored enough goals and yes in many ways those two problems have been linked because our full backs help us play better, give attacking players more space and score goals.

Will Arsene start Chamberlain today and at Bolton? Will Arshavin come in for Walcott or will Theo get another chance to improve on his previous display?

Plenty of questions that we will get answers from shortly. Whatever those answers are, I just hope for a victory and preferably a convincing and entertaining one but I will gladly take the former for now.

Mean Lean’s Predicted Line Up

Mean Lean’s Predicted Line Up