Wenger has kept his cards close to his chest but I can only imagine that Diaby will be in the squad, the real question is if he is sharp enough to be thrown into the deep end. We already have players feeling their way to match fitness so Wenger will have to decide

It has been said that facing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge just one week after the humiliation at the hands of Manchester United, is the worst possible fixture that could have been thrown at Arsene Wenger’s team at this moment in time but I happen to think the opposite.

This could be just the fixture that can kick start a season. The Arsenal that I have known, loved and supported for twenty odd years has always preformed when their backs have been against the wall, when the squad is being questioned and written off they have often pull a rabbit out of the bag and tomorrow would be the perfect opportunity to let that bunny go free.

Arsene has had seven days to work with his players, to get them to understand where they went wrong, to drill it into the players what it takes to win this league. I expect the players to jog onto the pitch tomorrow with the eye of the tiger, with a burning desire to prove to all the naysayers that they do have what it takes to win the big games.

I, like all Gooners around the globe was feeling very down after last Sunday’s defeat. It was very difficult to stomach, especially when conceding the goals that we did. As difficult as it was to view it may have been the performance that the team needed to get the team to pay attention to the weaknesses. I can bet my bottom dollar that we will not witness such a self defeating defensive performance at 4pm

The Hull City game against our opponents really helped me forget about the United defeat. Hull City looked the more threatening side and caused Chelsea all sorts of problems. I just have a feeling that Chelsea will lose back to back games to us and Everton at Goodison park.

I have been thinking that Nicklas Bendtner will start as the lead forward but the indications are that Bendtner is still not quite ready for a start and with Eduardo not fully recovered from his hamstring it looks likely that Arshavin will continue as center forward, hopefully he will have his eyes tuned into his team mates this time. Arsene couldn’t have been happy about Arshavin’s decisions to go alone last weekend. He has spoken about his players passing to better placed team mates in the past and I am sure he would have disapproved of Arshavin’s choices. On the positive, it was good to see Arshavin heavily involved in our attacks.

I love watching him turning and running directly at the opposition, that then creates spaces for others, as markers go to close down the Russian. We need a big performance from him and hopefully a big goal. He has scored at Old Trafford and Anfield. Two fantastic strikes and now he needs to add to his collection with a goal at Stamford Bridge. A scrappy scrambled goal on the goal line will do.

Wenger’s only real decision is whether or not to include Abou Diaby from the start. Wenger has kept his cards close to his chest but I can only imagine that Diaby will be in the squad, the real question is if he is sharp enough to be thrown into the deep end. We already have players feeling their way to match fitness so Wenger will have to decide if he wants to add Diaby to Denilson, Clichy, Bendtner, Walcott etc.

With Denilson going through a difficult spell you wouldn’t be overly surprised if Diaby was included to play alongside Song and Cesc in the engine room. Diaby’s power and running power is always a bonus. It will be interesting how the battle turns out with Essien missing through injury. Perhaps Cesc will find room that hasn’t been available in the past, Essien usually chases our captain around the pitch for 90 minutes. Mikel is likely to be drafted back in to stop Arsenal playing one-two’s just outside the Chelsea penalty box.

The only other possible change from last Sunday’s game is the possible introduction of Emmanuel Eboue at right attack to take care of Ashley Cole’s forward runs and to add another running dimension.

Mean Lean’s Predicted Line Up

Mean Lean’s Match Prediction

I want to look back at the end of the season and think that this Chelsea result was where our league winning run started from. I hope the boys can do it, they need to do it for themselves.