As Chelsea and Tottenham go head to head we really need to take advantage of this home fixture and take all three points. We have all had a chuckle at the demise of our bragging neighbours in recent weeks but they have been running up hill for the most part, having to deal with some difficult fixtures including today but it all changes for them for the 9 game stretch.

Very much a quick preview of sorts today as I write this bumping around on London buses and trains on the way back from the fantastic annual Arseblog 5aside tournament. I did a Gervinho and missed my semi final spot kick which sent us out *sobs*

This wonderful event has fallen on the day of Miss Lean’s birthday so I am in the dog house for choosing football over her, so I am well and truly in debt with the old brownie points.

Anyway because of this, I shall not be watching what I believe will be my first missed game of the season as bowling with the family has crossed paths with our clash with Aston Villa at Ashburton Grove. Twitter will have to be my friend today.

As Chelsea and Tottenham go head to head we really need to take advantage of this home fixture and take all three points. We have all had a chuckle at the demise of our bragging neighbours in recent weeks but they have been running up hill for the most part, having to deal with some difficult fixtures including today but it all changes for them for the 9 game stretch. The fixture list looks as good as it could get for a team aspiring for the top four. Our incline will increase with games against Chelsea, Manchester City and Stoke City in the distance.

It is unlikely that we will win our remaining nine matches although as ever, I remain hopeful but matching the results of Tottenham and Chelsea from now on will be important regardless of how tricky the fixture is.

The visitors will be without two of their key players in Darren Bent and Richard Dunne who both usually have good games against us in recent years so that could be an advantage to us.

I wonder if Arsene will make a few changes to our Everton line up given the opposition and the venue. It is likely that Villa will sit deep and hope to catch us on the break so breaking them down may well be the task of the day. If that is the case then I do not see the need for another central midfielder in the side so Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain or Gervinho could replace the energetic Aaron Ramsey.

I wonder if Kieran Gibbs will be given a rest for the more forward thinking Andre Santos, I could understand Arsene’s reasons for not wanting to break up the understanding of our current back four, especially given the fact that Santos has not played a minute of football since his injury in Greece.

Whatever happens, our focus and determination should be the same as it has been in recent weeks. It is a different game to recent matches as pressing and winning the ball back might not be the order of the day, the ball is likely to be at our feet and the onus will be on us to break down the visitors.

Mean Lean’s Predicted Line Up:

Time to inhale, puff the chest out and go again for 90 minutes, if we can start and maintain our start against Everton for at least 45 minutes then we should fashion enough chances to win the game.

Come on you red and whites.

* Apologies if you find any errors, my stop is coming up. Up the Arsenal!