Gedion Zelalem missed the League cup run due to injury and is said to feature at some point tonight. There was an awful lot of hype on him during the pre season. I certainly put my two cents in. But his injury has made him practically disappear off the radar. Not a bad thing I guess given his

It’s not often that I write a match preview on a Friday afternoon and to be honest, from a selfish point of view I am quite happy about this Friday night football malarkey. Unlike Tottenham we get a chance to experience playing football on peculiar night without having to be as mediocre as they are.

I’ve noticed that I have a tendency to mock Tottenham in the beginning of almost every article I write these days. But I guess this is what Tottenham are for, they have been put on this earth so that Arsenal can giggle and chuckle at their misfortune.

Coventry City remind me of my youth, they remind me of Panini sticker albums *got, got, got, need, need, got*

The round Micky Quinn banging in a spectacular hat trick on the opening day of the season in the sunshine crushed this readers spirits as a little boy.

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Peter Ndlovu jinking his way past players on the flanks. If Twitter existed back then I would be posting stuff like ‘Com on arsene get the cheq book out and buy peter ndlov’

Roy Wegerle, the American striker who impressed with his goals.

But Coventry City soon disappeared down the table and divisions never to be seen again by most Premier League only watchers like myself. Without wanting to tempt fate or anything, I don’t see them coming away from the Emirates stadium with a 3-0 score line under their belt this time.

Coventry City are currently 11th in League, 10 points off a playoff place and 12 points off relegation. a 10 point deduction has pushed them down into mid-table. They snatched an injury time draw in their last match at Preston so should be in buoyant mood.

Arsene said that some of the players who have been on the bench should start the match. As ever at this stage the predicted line up is largely dependant on which players are more tired than others or to put it another way, which players have played most without having a break.

Gedion Zelalem missed the League cup run due to injury and is said to feature at some point tonight. There was an awful lot of hype on him during the pre season. I certainly put my two cents in. But his injury has made him practically disappear off the radar. Not a bad thing I guess given his tender age of 16 years. In my below graphic I have him on the bench but the more I think about it, the more I think he may just start ahead of Jack Wilshere.

If Jack does get the nod to start, I wonder if he will get a chance playing as the number 10. His end product has been improving as the weeks have gone on. A goal and an assist at Villa followed by another assist in the next match against Fulham shows that he is making the difference in games these days. He looks to have a spring in his step once more.

But back to the 16 year old. Some of Zelalem’s defence splitting passes during pre season were incredible but I’m not sure how often he will be able to try those tonight should he get on the pitch as most of the players around him usually come towards the ball. We’ll see.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain should also get his first start since the opening day defeat to Villa. If Serge Gnabry starts then Mr Ox may be given a chance to play centrally. A position he occupied a lot during pre season but given that he has just come back from injury, perhaps Arsene will push him out to avoid the usual midfield challenges.

The one player I will be watching very closely is Nicklas Bendtner. I don’t know what it is but I have a really good feeling about him right now. I could be completely wrong but I think he will have something to prove tonight and hopefully turn a lot of opinions on him. If I could be at all bothered, I would stick some money on him scoring a hat trick tonight. I almost hope he doesn’t now because I’ll be annoyed that I didn’t put my money where my mou..fingers were.

I am also pretty excited about what I think will be a debut partnership. Lukas Podolski hasn’t been on the pitch at the same time as Nicklas Bendtner and I can see those two hitting it off.

Mean Lean’s Predicted Line Up

While League One opposition should be a great time to rotate the squad a little and give some games to those who have not had a great deal of late, we only have to look back to last season’s cup ties to make us aware of what can happen if you do not play well.

Wengerball failed against Bradford and Blackburn Rovers and we were punished despite having all of the ball in the two games. Tonight we might have 5 or so changes so finding our game is not guaranteed. However this time the squad know what is expected of them from a defensive point of view so even if we do not play well, we shouldn’t give away goals for fun. Famous last words.

No injuries, qualification, good football and some goals please. Not asking for too much am I?

’till the next time.

UPDATE: So a much stronger team than I thought. Chamberlain and Wilshere deep in midfield should be interesting.