Gervinho is back in the squad which is good news, hopefully he can put his penalty kick miss behind him and bounce back in style this afternoon. I am expecting a few changes from Arsene, some enforced and some rotation. Arsene has said previously that he doesn’t like to play the same players three times in a week although he did do just that over the Christmas schedule

This situation feels all a little too familiar, a little too raw for me not to notice it. The highs of our late comeback followed by a crushing non show defeat and then days later we find our self in a knock out cup competition, our last available trophy to play for.

The last few months of the season used to be our strongest, in recent times it has been quite the opposite, especially last season which was particularly bad and I still believe that had we held onto third in the league then this summer’s poor show may have been prevented but that is old news. Let us hope that it remains old news and that this new remodelled Arsenal team do not follow the same path of self destruction.

There is no time for self pity, no time for fear. The players have to simply roll their sleeves up and fight for the badge, they didn’t do that in Italy and they will not be allowed to do the same again this afternoon. I wonder how the team will deal with tiredness both physical and mental. This time round Sunderland will have the rested legs so I wonder if that will change the pattern of the game compared to our last fixture against the black cats.

Gervinho is back in the squad which is good news, hopefully he can put his penalty kick miss behind him and bounce back in style this afternoon. I am expecting a few changes from Arsene, some enforced and some rotation. Arsene has said previously that he doesn’t like to play the same players three times in a week although he did do just that over the Christmas schedule.

Hopefully Oxlade-Chamberlain will be restored to the left which would give the side two quick dribblers either side of the center forward and that would be very interesting to see how that would pan out. That said, Arsene could give Andrey Arshavin another chance after it was his actions that brought all three points back to north London last weekend.

If Arsene ever wants to rest Robin van Persie then it has to be today, if not then I just do not see how or when he would do so. Chamakh could start the game with the choice of bringing van Persie off the bench if need be.

Kieran Gibbs did not travel with the team as Arsene does not want to push the youngster too much after his long term injury. He did the same with Bacary Sagna against Blackburn Rovers although the Frenchman was on the bench. I am guessing that Francis Coquelin will come back into the team and probably play at left back.

It is likely to be a very scrappy game of football, hopefully Sunderland will be more positive than they were recently but I guess that also depends on which wide men we have in the team.

I can see the game finishing 1-0 to either side but I must say I am concerned about how much the Milan game would have taken from our players. It might just have to be adrenaline that takes us over the line but whatever it is, let us hope we get what we need this afternoon.

Mean Lean’s Predicted Line Up

Come on you Gunners