Forgotten man Philippe Senderos will get his chance at the heart of central defence if he passes a fitness test that has apparently ruled him out thus far

It is FA Cup Sunday, the first match of 2010 for Arsenal and the boys (more literally than usual) take a trip over to East London to take on a West Ham side who like the last side of 2009 we faced, have their own issues. I like many Gooners enjoy the FA Cup, as I do with the Carling Cup but this season it has a more secondary feel to it.

With the squad down to the last few standing, Wenger will quite rightly in my opinion rest a few of his troops for a competition that Arsene rates as the third most important. The players we have missing would have felt pretty confident about beating the Hammers this afternoon, even if they were two men short.

Arsene will not want to add to that possible team after the West Ham game so a few of the fringe players will be drafted in to get their chance.

Forgotten man Philippe Senderos will get his chance at the heart of central defence if he passes a fitness test that has apparently ruled him out thus far. I would imagine that if he plays he will be playing alongside Carling Cup partner Mikel Silvestre. Alex Song will play his last game before departing for the ACN. His midfield partners should be quite interesting. Aaron Ramsey is likely to continue after his superb goal at Portsmouth, he could play alongside Fran Merida who has been out of the loop since the Carling Cup defeat at Manchester City there is the possibility that Abou Diaby could be kept in the side but with our midfield looking pretty thing right now, I would be pretty surprised.

Tomas Rosicky will restart his season with a comeback to the team. He looked sharp against Portsmouth and will add the creative flair to the side. He could be used as an attacking wide player or he could play in central midfield to replicate Cesc Fabregas as he did at the Eastlands.

Carlos Vela is on course to spearhead the attack and I guess Eduardo is a possible starter from the Portsmouth game as he came off in the 72nd minute and he needs goals. If not we could see Jack Wilshere coming in from the right a nice way to show potential clubs what he could do for them on a short term basis.

Mean Lean’s Predicted Line Up

Mean Lean’s Match Prediction

I am hoping for plenty of goals. West Ham have many of their best players out and Arsene will make many changes so it could be an open game.