Arsenal will feel a little pressure tonight being the team to play after the weekend but I think Everton losing could apply some good pressure rather than nervous pressure. Well that is the hope at least. I will be looking at how we start the game because in these types of games our start is often a good indicator of how the game will go over the 90 minutes.

Is it just me or do you sometimes think of an upcoming match as a foregone conclusion? No matter how much you try and push those feelings aside you find it difficult to avoid. So eventually you run with that. Because it doesn’t really matter what you say or think, it won’t affect the team anyway regardless of any superstitious beliefs.

Then the game starts and it is nothing like you saw it in your head, especially when you concede that bloody stupid goal and we missed those bloody stupid chances.

Maybe those matches stick out because they did not go according to plan. I’m sure there has been many a game where I expected us to thrash the opposition and when it comes down to it, we’ve done just that.

So we play tonight, and we play against a Newcastle side who have been in free fall in recent weeks. We beat them 7-3 in the same fixture last season and we have Mesut Özil and Aaron Ramsey back at the Emirates for the first time in goodness knows how long.

You know where I’m going with this don’t you? Yeah me neither but I can’t help but feel that we should be beating this Newcastle side in the form they are in.

Arsenal will feel a little pressure tonight being the team to play after the weekend but I think Everton losing could apply some good pressure rather than nervous pressure. Well that is the hope at least. We have a great chance to race ahead and put us firmly in the top four driving seat but anything than a win puts that in danger. So a win and only a win is what we want.

I will be looking at how we start the game because in these types of games our start is often a good indicator of how the game will play over the 90 minutes.

Alan Pardew is back on the touchline after his head thrusting antics but I’m not sure how much difference stuff like that actually makes. Unless of course his players are controlled via a Playstation controller.

Hatem Ben Arfa has been left at home on the naughty step which is great news while Sissoko is a doubt. They also have a few injuries of their own to contend with. So it’s not just French players that Newcastle have in common with us.

Arsenal are pretty much as we were at Hull plus Thomas Vermaelen who is back in the squad, probably in a more familiar role on the bench. The Ox and Rosicky are likely to be our second half subs and that shows how much we’ve missed players in recent times. Those two were absolute first team starters only a few weeks back but with the return of Aaron and Mesut we have some more strength in depth. There is no need to tinker with any of the team as they’ve had a substantial rest since our last game.

Mean Lean’s Predicted Line Up:

Going back to the start of the article, I fully expect Arsenal to win and win this game well so when it doesn’t you are welcome to give me a piece of your mind. If the players have my mentally then I will be worried, hopefully they will be far less complacent and really fired up to put the barcodes to the sword nice and early.

Should we continue our second half at Hull City last weekend then I think we will be fine and have a good match to look forward to.

A few bits of match stuff before I go. You can catch match commentary, chat, vines and all the good stuff over at http://bit.ly/1hVy8SV just download the free app and away you go.

Post match you can catch another Q&A session from more Gooners. Not sure who those Gooners are yet but you’ll catch them this evening.