I would personally like to see Rosicky and Arshavin switch positions in this game and start Rosicky as an left attacker, giving our full back a greater level of protection and also harder pressing in the final third of the pitch whilst allowing Arshavin the freedom of the center to pick his through passes and striking

The smell of silverware is floating through the rain filled air this afternoon, the Carling cup competition replaces the weekend’s FA Cup as the Arsenal squad look forward to a trip to Ipswich for the first leg of this semi final. The Mickey mouse cup will always be viewed as the last priority at the beginning of the season and rightly so but once you get to a semi final of any competition, the aim will be most certainly to win it.

Wenger now has to make a decision on which players he wants to start the game tonight, we are in a slightly different position to the one we found ourselves in on the weekend against Leeds. Most of our first teamers haven’t played since the 0-0 draw at home to Manchester City and Wenger will want to keep his players ticking over, keep the sharpness and focus that we have witnessed for our last few league games but at the same time, he knows that West Ham away on Saturday is the more important game and picking up injuries to important players in the first leg of a two legged tie should be avoidable.

I expect Arsene to select a similar looking side that drew on the weekend with a few changes to those who have played a little too much in recent weeks. Johan Djourou is very likely to be rested whilst Alex Song may also step out to the bench. With injuries striking our center backs, the manager does not have many to choose from so I expect Laurent Koscielny to return in place of Squillaci who is suffering with a hamstring strain. I would expect Wenger to take a gamble with the inexperienced Ignasi Miquel, the 17 year old is the captain of the reserves and was not included in the recent 10-1 drubbing at the hands of Aston Villa. I would be astonished if Wenger continues with Djourou and then to play him again against West Ham on Saturday.

Mean Lean’s Predicted Line Up:

I am hoping to see a more fluid performance from these players tonight, we simply did not click during the early stages against Leeds United and a sharper and quicker start to the game will be important for the rest of the match.

Hopefully the likes of Tomas Rosicky, Nicklas Bendtner and Andrey Arshavin can have a good game, if they all perform at the level that we have been used to then we should be able to beat an Ipswich team who are struggling in the Championship.

Chelsea recently ripped Ipswich apart at Stamford Bridge 7-0 and that just shows the gulf in class between the top end of the Premier League and lower regions of the Championship. The balance may well be restored a little by home advantage and a weaker Arsenal team than we could possibly select but even so, anything less than an away victory would be disappointing to the manager, but not a travesty.

A comfortable away victory tonight will allow Wenger to manage the upcoming fixtures much easier, giving Wenger the option of leaving certain players out of the squad in the return game.

One to watch: Andrey Arshavin:

The Russian international had a difficult last game for Arsenal and both himself and the manager should want a big response. He needs to have a 90 minutes of consistent quality as he did against Aston Villa away in November and Partizan Belgrade further back in September.

I would personally like to see Rosicky and Arshavin switch positions in this game and start Rosicky as a left attacker, giving our full back a greater level of protection and also harder pressing in the final third of the pitch whilst allowing Arshavin the freedom of the center to pick his through passes and striking from distance.

Arshavin may not help his central midfield team mates in the same way that Rosicky would but this should really be a game where we have a vast majority of the possession which should negate the need for a third midfielder in the middle. Having said all this, I do not expect that change but I do expect Arshavin to put in more than he has done of late.

Mean Lean’s Match Prediction:

Ipswich Town 1 Arsenal 3 (Arshavin, Bendtner, Rosicky)

Even with the expected resting of big players for Arsenal, I would hope that we will have too much for Ipswich. The game on the weekend as well as the subsequent training sessions should have done these players the world of good. A good performance from these players can show that they are ready to step up to the big games should they be called upon.

COME ON YOU GUNNERS.