Match Preview – Stoke City (h) – Premier League (24.05.09)
Arsene said about this fixture "I want to play the players who have played the most games against Stoke". Looking at the stats, that would probably mean playing Silvestre at left back with Djourou at centre back
Arshavin is a major doubt after being unable to train all week due to suffering from flu. Hopefully not of the swine variety. It’s unlikely he’ll even make the squad let alone start
The main news from our perspective is that Robin van Persie is fit enough to return to the squad. With the team needing to be set up to get goals, if he’s near fit enough he will start
I expect if Gibbs is fit he’ll play, if he isn’t but Silvestre is then Mikael will start at left back, and if they both don’t make it then Sagna will move to left back and Eboue will continue at right back
Bendtner, Eduardo, Vela and Diaby will probably all be involved, with Fabregas, Walcott, Nasri and Adebayor sitting out. It will depend on who Wenger plans on starting on Wednesday night really. Arshavin will start due to his Champions League ineligibility
We only need nine points from our remaining six matches to secure fourth place ahead of Villa and Everton, and should Everton fail to beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday that becomes eight points from six games
A fresh Arshavin will return to the starting line up, other than that only Arsene knows who will play really. We have a full complement of central midfielders, wingers and strikers
If Diaby is fit enough he might start ahead of one of Song or Denilson, as the Cesc/Song/Denilson central midfield formation doesn’t seem to work very well