We haven’t seen much of Wilshere recently, he has been tucked away at London Colney learning his trade, working on his weaker points. We have not seen him since his late introduction against Celtic in the second leg

There is nothing like a game on the horizon to wipe away the tears of a defeat, a new match allows the brain to consign the upset to history, depending on the result of the up coming clash I suppose. The players get the chance to switch of from domestic thoughts and concentrate on playing European football. This group of players have never played against Standard Liege in an Arsenal shirt and will want to turn around fortunes.

Last seasons defeat to Manchester City would have been considerably more difficult for the boss to fix. Mentally the players had lost it, we had in house dressing room issues, confidence was shot and I remember the wondering why our passing game had vanished off the face of the earth. On that miserable day we couldn’t string three passes together and we were stuck out there on that big green turf, nowhere to hide, nothing we could have done. We would never have won that game last season.

This season we have suffered two defeats out of four which is difficult to take but we know that if those games were replayed in that those very same moments we could have come away with six points and not one person could say it was undeserved. Had Robin Van Persie’s left foot shot started at a slightly wider angle Ben Foster would have been picking the ball out of his net and kicking to the half way line in frustration ready for a Manchester United kick off. It is now confirmed, although it didn’t actually need to be, that the referee would have sent off Emmanuel Adebayor had he squinted a little further and seen the strikers disgusting act of violence. We were on top at that stage, creating countless chances that Adebayor helped to keep out.

It was not to be and that is football. Luck and confidence is also a big part in football so getting the breaks and winning tonight will bring back the confidence.

I still have a pretty clear recollection of the last time we played against Standard Liege, we pulled out a performance that I didn’t expect. Winning 3-0 at Highbury, I thought we stood a good chance of getting through the second leg unscathed but I never imagined the side to score seven goals. Any victory for the class of 2009 would do nicely.

Arsene Wenger will be forced to do some squad reshuffling as news filtered through last night that some key squad members have not travelled to Belgium. Robin Van Persie, Manuel Almunia and Denilson being left in London due to apparent injuries. I say apparent because I wouldn’t be surprised if they were rested due to different reasons. Manuel Almunia has looked far from himself so far this season and might need a game out of the spotlight to regain some focus. Denilson has been rested the least out of his midfield partners and Van Persie played two international matches before being involved in ‘that’ game.

Arsene Wenger will now have to find the balance between playing a fresh squad and keeping his side competitive, a very tricky procedure, one that can do damage to the squad should a tired player end up injured or a fresh squad player not have the same sharpness, therefore his mistake contributing to a disappointing result. It will have to be a balancing act from Monsieur Wenger.

Emmanuel Eboue, Kieran Gibbs and Aaron Ramsey will all be in contention for tonights clash. Tomas Rosicky and Jack Wilshere are also outside bets to find a place in the starting line up although with a chunk of our creative players missing the match, any participation from the duo could benefit the team.

This brings me to a conversation I had after the Manchester City match with a Arsenal supporting friend of mine. If a player is in the squad, he should be fit enough to warrant his place in the squad. If this is the case then is it not better to play him from the start and then remove him after a calculated amount of time. It is the same amount of minutes on the pitch so what is the difference?

That was the question posed to me, and in many ways it makes perfect sense. You want to give yourself the best chance of winning a game and usually the best chance of winning a game is playing your strongest players from the beginning. In an ideal world you would want to score early goals make your changes and play on the break. I suppose there are many arguments to this, such as physically the opposition are stronger from the start therefore more chance of injuries to our players but then you can counter that with the more leg weary and tired the opposition are the more chance of a challenge coming in that is reckless. There are many arguments for and against which would take up much of this article. It is still very unlikely that we would see Tomas Rosicky start the game, not unless our manager was certain that he was over his injuries and operations.

We haven’t seen much of Wilshere recently, he has been tucked away at London Colney learning his trade, working on his weaker points. We have not seen him since his late introduction against Celtic in the second leg. I would love to see Wilshere take his place on the right of the attacking three, a position where he can create, shoot, dribble and provide moments of brilliance.

Having said all this, I expect both creative players to be seated on the bench, with introductions late in the second half.

The only choice that Wenger has to make as far as I am concerned is who to play in midfield alongside Cesc and Song. Abou Diaby has had an inconsistent start to the season but is still recognised as one of Wenger’s first team players. Aaron Ramsey is fresh and could be drafted in. The rest of the team should pick itself.

Mean Lean’s Predicted Line Up

Mean Lean’s Match Prediction

I am a little concerned about our potiential lack of creative passers in the side which may not allow us to play our game to the standard that we are used to but hopefully we will have enough quality to score goals. I know pretty much nothing about our opposition so a prediction is pretty much impossible but I will continue to back the Gunners as we have Eduardo back and I think it is only fair he sticks two fingers up at those who have castigated him.

Come on you Gunners!