The rumours are that Wojciech Szczesny will be starting in between the sticks as Fabianski has picked up some sort of injury. Usually you would worry about a young keeper making his league debut at Old Trafford but with Szczesny, you almost feel that the bigger the stage, the better performance you are likely to see. Now really would be a time to show

This has really felt like the longest weekend of my entire life, I have barely watched any of the highlights from any other of the insignificant games over the weekend.

My Arsenal were not in town so my interest was absent.

I have teased and tortured myself though, watching Arsenal TV online, Arsene Wenger’s press conference and the Gael Clichy interview has brought the excitement and anxiousness almost to a climax.

Although this is certainly no title decider, it does give one of the teams a psychological advantage and can add some much needed momentum to a difficult month of fixtures.

Arsenal’s recent record against Manchester United hasn’t been favourable and the players will have to show plenty of character this evening.

Arsene has plenty of decisions to make all around the pitch and it is probably the first time in a long time that Wenger has had that ‘problem’ most of the times he has been without key players in the big games and has come up short.

The high profile decision will be to include Cesc Fabregas or rest his hamstrings further. I get the feeling that Cesc will be starting tonight, had the game fallen on the weekend then Wenger may have thought otherwise but everything points to a dramatic return to the team.

The rumours are that Wojciech Szczesny will be starting in between the sticks as Fabianski has picked up some sort of injury. Usually you would worry about a young keeper making his league debut at Old Trafford but with Szczesny, you almost feel that the bigger the stage, the better performance you are likely to see. Now really would be a time to show how good he is.

The center backs will also be sweating on a decision from le boss. Whilst Johan Djourou is many fans current choice due to his aerial ability, I do not imagine that Manchester United will look to hurt us from headers, they are likely to play on the counter or try and play through us. That being the case, I feel that Koscielny with his excellent intercepting and tackling will be the preferred option alongside probably the experienced Squillaci.

Robin Van Persie and Marouane Chamakh are competing for a chance to lead the line. If someone told me 12 months ago that Van Persie would be almost fully fit and still could struggle to start the game then I would have laughed myself silly. In December 2010, Wenger may have those very thoughts floating through his mind.

Marouane Chamakh has almost played himself into one of the first names on the team sheet, especially away from home where hard work and spirit is a must but at the same time Wenger must be wondering how he could possibly leave a player who can create a goal from nothing out of the starting line up.

Playing both players at Old Trafford could prove a risk, as they have not had a lot of game time together, unless one of them plays in a wider role in the team.

I am glad Arsene is the one paid to make those choices, although I would be up for being paid for Arsene to make those choices but hey.

Mean Lean’s Predicted Line Up

One to watch: Samir Nasri

The man of the moment will be a marked man. It just shows how far he has come in such a short time when Arsenal have Van Persie and possibly Cesc back fit and Nasri is the pre match talk of the town.

Should he come up against Evra then I am sure a majority of Gooners will be roaring him on to do the business more than usual.

Mean Lean’s Match Prediction

Manchester United 1 Arsenal 2 (Nasri, Chamakh)

This really is a game that is almost impossible to predict, both teams at the top of the table and both teams desperate to get one over their rivals.

The game is just set up for Rooney to break his non goalscoring duck against us, so we will need to score at least two goals to win the game. We are very much capable of that, we will just need to be clinical in front of goal and that is not always the case with Arsenal.

Defensively the likes of Clichy, Koscielny and our midfield will have to be on their game to stop their attack.

I cannot wait for the game and I am hoping that we can prove a few people wrong and keep our place on top of the league.

COME ON YOU GUNNERS.