James Poplett

Gallas hasn’t fully recovered from the knock he picked up against Chelsea, and he’ll miss this game. Toure is back in the squad after injury, and either he or Silvestre will partner Djourou who is fit

Bendtner will come back into the side in place of Jay Simpson after not being heavily involved in recent first team duties and with Adebayor back fit. It could also perhaps be time to unleash Bischoff with Randall not having his best game against Wigan

Adebayor, Nasri and Sagna have all been passed fit and you’d have to think we’ll need them all to start, to improve the defence and the attack

New captain Fabregas will return to the side after missing out on the fun at the weekend due to suspension. Adebayor, Toure, Eboue and Walcott are all still absent

Van Persie returns following his three game suspension, just as we lose Fabregas to a one game ban. Adebayor will probably replace Bendtner in the starting line up

Adebayor was originally set to miss most of November with his ankle problem but he’s rated 50:50 for this game. He’ll face a late fitness test. I could see him on the bench for this. Almunia is back in training following his injury against United

Guessing the Carling Cup team is always good fun. In previous seasons it was obvious what the team would be in the early rounds of the cup

I don’t see Carlos Vela’s first league start being in this game, so I expect we’ll go with the formation we’ve used away in the Champions League before with Nasri and Walcott

van Persie will play his last game until the 22nd of November, presumably partnering Bendtner up front. Adebayor, Eboue, Gallas and Walcott all miss out through injury

Bendtner could come into the team after some mention of Adebayor being dropped, and Diaby or Song could come into the midfield to add a bit more physical strength