Tomas Rosicky, Samir Nasri and Eduardo Da Silva should all be fit, fresh and hungry for games and could all be in contention for a starting place in the side. Although it is likely that Tomas Rosicky will be starting from the bench as Arsene mentioned in his press conference

After a couple of disappointing draws the Arsenal team regained their mojo by dismantling the inferior’s at the Emirates. Derby victories are just perfect, giving us a much needed high whilst footballistically sending our rivals neighbour’s (the inferior are no way good enough to be called rivals) to sit on the naughty step. I know footballistically isn’t actually a real word but I suppose that is the beauty of writing a blog, you get to make up your own random words just to fit a sentence.

Next up is the Champions League and the chance to get our own back on party poopers Az Alkmaar who left it late to snatch a draw when the sides met in Holland.

Last years Dutch Champions are somewhat behind current leaders FC Twente and are finding consistency hard to come by but it is difficult to take a Ronald Koeman side for granted, his sides in recent years have bored Wenger’s teams into submission on more than one occasion.

I cannot remember one free flowing game against his Ajax, PSV and now Az Alkmaar sides. I suppose now is as good a chance as ever to correct the situation. Playing at home in front of fans who have seen many goals so far this season, they will be expecting some more.

Gael Clichy is suffering from back problems which I can only assume he picked up during Saturday’s match which means Kieran Gibbs is very likely to get the nod to fill the void. With the games coming thick and fast, Arsene may be tempted to flex his squad muscles a little. Tomas Rosicky, Samir Nasri and Eduardo Da Silva should all be fit, fresh and hungry for games and could all be in contention for a starting place in the side. Although it is likely that Tomas Rosicky will be starting from the bench as Arsene mentioned in his press conference.

With Nicklas Bendtner out with a groin injury, Arsene would not want an injury to his leading striker who is in red and white hot form lately. Eduardo who replaced the Dane on the weekend would have a strong chance of playing and hopefully rectifying his missed chances from Saturday.

Obviously player changes is a little more complicated than randomly selecting players to come out and randomly selecting their replacements, Wenger will know how much his players have ran in since the start of the season, he will know which players are looking more jaded but it is not only this that he will have to consider, he will also have to carefully select the correct balance usually according to the opposition strengths.

Mean Lean’s Predicted Line Up

The team I have gone for probably will not happen due to the amount of changes in a game that Wenger will really want to win, qualifying as early as possible will be on the forefront of our managers mind. Having said that it would be great to see those players who are fresh given a chance to gain some valuable minutes under their belts so when the big games come up they are not still trying to shake off any lingering rust.

Without Bendtner and Diaby the side lack height and physical power. But technically it is a very good footballing side. The idea of Nasri and Cesc linking up together in the final third of the pitch is an exciting thought and hopefully one that we will not have to wait long to see.

Mean Lean’s Match Prediction

Thrashing a Koeman side is probably wishful thinking as stopping us playing will probably be the only thing on his mind so a controlled victory will be just fine, another clean sheet is certainly important.

UPDATE: If you believe that you can get hints from training ground pictures then Robin Van Persie, Cesc Fabregas and Kieran Gibbs will start while Tomas Vermaelen, Andrey Arshavin and Tomas Rosicky will be sitting out. We shall see.