I watched bits of Everton’s 1-0 victory over those lot from down the road and I gulped at the intensity of Everton’s pressing game and thought back to previous clashes where Everton did not allow us time on the ball and our game suffered. We have also been pressing very well in recent games so it could be a game of Arsenal and Everton players running full pelt at each other with the ball being left on the center circle. Jokes aside (bad one’s at that) we do not play that same pressing game quite the same when we are away from home, the last game at Liverpool is a perfect example. I am not quite

It feels like an absolute eternity since we all jumped and pumped our fists at a roaring Thomas Vermaelen wheeling away with both arms aloft deep into Newcastle United ‘s self imposed injury time.

A rather unusual nine day break has given everyone connected to this wonderful club a chance to refresh batteries, whether that be mental or physical.

Everton haven’t had the chance to put feet up and sip orange juice as they have been called into FA Cup work. As that assignment has yet to be resolved, I wonder and also certainly hope that David Moyes pulls a ‘vs Liverpool’, a rotation of his squad to allow his more established players a better chance of overcoming Sunderland on the second bite of their cherry. Knowing our luck, Moyes will have had a change of heart and his best Everton team will be pumped up to beat Arsene’s southern foreign softies or whichever way we are consistently portrayed.

But before I go into more of the actual game tonight, I want to show you something very unusual, very rare in fact and I don’t know when or indeed if this will ever be seen again. Check it out below.

Arsenal’s Injury List March 2012

Francis Coquelin

Per Mertesacker

Yup, print that out and frame it. We have two players who are actually injured. Jack Wilshere and Abou Diaby are regaining fitness so if you want to be pedantic then you could include them as they will not be in the match day squad but they are not officially injured.

Let us see if we can piece this together. We have won five on the spin, four coming from behind and we only have three players not able to feature tonight. There is no need to call in Iain Dowie the rocket scientist for this, it is self explanatory. We are a good team with players playing in their normal positions.

While I want to beat my chest and say, we are going to smash Everton for six as we did a few years ago (by gee, I loved that game) I have a nagging feeling, poking me on my arm and pulling my t-shirt that this could be one of those sticky games where Everton are resolute in their defending and look to sneak the cheeky set piece which come to think of it, isn’t cheeky in the slightest.

But perhaps that is my mind going into overdrive. That pre match subconscious protection, that makes you say ‘I knew that would happen’ if we do end up losing the game but a thought process that is easily disposable if we win the game. The weird and wonderful thought process of a football fan ey?

I watched bits of Everton’s 1-0 victory over those lot from down the road and I gulped at the intensity of Everton’s pressing game and thought back to previous clashes where Everton did not allow us time on the ball and our game suffered. We have also been pressing very well in recent games so it could be a game of Arsenal and Everton players running full pelt at each other with the ball being left on the center circle. Jokes aside (bad one’s at that) we do not play that same pressing game quite the same when we are away from home, the last game at Liverpool is a perfect example. I am not quite sure why that is, perhaps one you of tactical wizards can fill me in with that one. I wonder how we will cope with that tonight. Like I said earlier, hopefully the fact that Everton have an FA Cup tie to look forward to might just mean a lowering of the gears or at least I hope so.

Everton have three players out of this one. Rodwell, Coleman and Gibson so I guess the chance for more rotation has reduced somewhat.

I am intrigued to know how quickly we can find our passing rhythm and how sharp we will be without football for a while. We are quite used to playing every three days and although it produces tired legs, it keeps the momentum rolling, fingers crossed we can find a balance between the two.

As for the team line up, I suspect that Arsene will stick rather than twist on the side that overcame Newcastle in such dramatic fashion. That said I see Santos and Gervinho walking around behind the manager during training hoping to be noticed. This does mean that our bench looks rather tasty and I am sure even without the likes of Diaby and Wilshere ready to return, we will still have some good players not able to force their way onto the bench.

Mean Lean’s Predicted Line Up

My guess is that I could copy and paste this next part for every preview from now until the end of the season but if we start tonight’s game the way we did against Milan and post 30 minutes against Tottenham then we will blow Everton out of the proverbial water. Having said that, if we play like we did in the first leg in Milan then our boys better bring their swimming costumes.

Let us hope for the former and to be honest, I would be hugely surprised to see us go back to that San Siro display. The boys have the bit between the teeth so to speak and are up for the fight. It will be interesting to see how Mikel Arteta does at his old stomping ground, no doubt he will get a good reception from the home crowd.

I am looking forward to watching Rosicky doing his thing again, he is as I used to call it in my younger days as a single teenager, ‘on the level’ and he must feel like he can do everything and anything on the pitch right now. This nine day break would have done him the world of good, perhaps more than most given his injury past.

I suspect that Tottenham will put a brief end to their poor run of results of late, Stoke City are not the same proposition  away from home as they are at that horrible place they call home. So I wouldn’t be surprised if they were taken to the cleaners tonight, I guess that wouldn’t be a bad thing for Stoke City supporters. While I do not want Manchester City winning the league for a multitude of reasons, I hope they give Chelsea a good old fashioned hiding. As much as I yearn for 3rd, we have to make sure that 4th is the minimum target.

It is going to be a tough battle regardless but I hope we can come through this with the three points in our hands.

Up the Arsenal.

Updated: I could I forget the good old BFG