Eduardo came back into the squad remarkably quickly given what Wenger had said previously, and he’ll probably be in the squad again today. Adebayor is out for a few weeks so maybe Eduardo will even start, although I doubt it

With the gap between us and the top four standing at five points, and the gap between us and first standing at twelve points having played a game more, our attentions turn back to the distraction of the FA Cup. The first game against Cardiff was fairly uneventful from our perspective, and we were a bit lucky to avoid conceding with the amount of chances we were giving away. But they did play pretty well, and we’ll need a solid performance to avoid a major “Cupset”. Seeing as tickets went to general sale, Cardiff will probably have a big section of the stadium as Plymouth did, and will make a hell of a lot of noise. Despite our poor performances in the league, the FA Cup is still a good chance of silverware. This is a knockout competition, so even though this has been one of our worst seasons under Arsene, we’ve still shown this season by beating United at home and Chelsea away that, on our day, we can beat anyone.

We need to get this tie out of the way and done with. We might as well play a reasonably strong side, there’s no mid-week fixture. If we win this we have a chance to exact some revenge on Burnley, who knocked us out the Carling Cup, in the fifth round on Monday 16th, and that’s a pretty good tie to get us into the last eight. From there we would have to get past either Sheffield United or Hull in another home draw, and then we’re into the semi finals and we’ll have Walcott, Fabregas and maybe even Rosicky back by then. Cardiff have won both games since our match at Ninian Park and have had more than two weeks rest before this fixture. We’re now unbeaten in eleven games, but seven of those have been draws, including our last four games in a row.

Team News

Arshavin will not make his debut today. There is a rule that I had never heard of, that means he can’t play because he wasn’t our player before the date of the first game in Cardiff. Eboue is suspended following his ridiculous red card against Spurs. Silvestre is still injured. Diaby will miss this game, it’s more likely we’ll see him against Sunderland this weekend. Adebayor is out for a few weeks. Fabregas should be back in March. Walcott will see a shoulder specialist on the 24th, and if given the green light could even be available for the Roma game that evening. That would mean no Eboue, which is a bonus. There could be a drop of rotation ahead of this game, players like Vela, Bendtner and Wilshere could be involved. After Ramsey’s performance in the first game in Cardiff he might not be involved. Not that it was really his fault, but going back to his boyhood club and getting booed won’t do much for his confidence ahead of a game like this. Or he could be given another chance to prove himself. He may not even be available, Wenger mentioned an injury he picked up playing for Wales midweek, and he could be a doubt. Cup keeper Fabianski will continue his role. I’m not sure what Djourou did to become bench fodder but he could come back into the side. Eduardo came back into the squad remarkably quickly given what Wenger had said previously, and he’ll probably be in the squad again today. Adebayor is out for a few weeks so maybe Eduardo will even start, although I doubt it. He managed half an hour for Croatia on Wednesday and by all accounts it was an impressive return. But Bendtner will probably start in Ade’s absence. With Arshavin and Eboue unavailable, Wilshere or Ramsey will probably play on the right. Or maybe Vela will play on the left with Nasri on the right if Ramsey is unavailable.

Subs: Almunia, Toure, Gibbs, Ramsey, Bischoff, Eduardo, van Persie.

I guess they’ll go with roughly the same side that missed countless chances in the first match with us. Centre backs Roger Johnson and Gabor Gyepes are fit after being doubts ahead of the original date for this game. Joe Ledley should be fit as well. Peter Enckelman is out injured so Tom Heaton, on loan from Manchester United, will take his place. I’m assuming that Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, whom they signed on loan for the rest of the season during the transfer window, is subject to the same ruling that means Arshavin can’t play, although I’m not certain how it works with loan deals. He hasn’t played a game for Cardiff yet anyway so it’s a bit of a big first game to come into.