Arsenal vs Man City Team news and a tribute to Fabianski and Manone's fledging acting careers.

Morning all,

With a mammoth tie fast approaching, I find myself restless in bed, unable to have a lie in so I thought I may as well do something useful with my life. I couldn’t think of anything so here I am, doing this.

With Chelsea dropping points the onus is on us to capitalise on these dropped points. The only problem is there is a 500m juggernaut in the way of us today. Granted most of them are Arsenal rejects and the rest are overrated overpriced mercenaries but they are worth a lot of money.

I sincerely hope we are going to go out there and take the game to them and use our pace to really hurt them. This is essential in order for us to stand any chance at getting a positive result. However, more important is the performance at the other end. It is essential that we are organised and watch the intricate movement of Aguero very carefully.

To me, it is clear that the tactics of Man City are going to centre around pressing high, winning the ball high and putting the Arsenal passing game under all sorts of pressure. These are the sort of tactics that have caused us problems all season long when teams deploy them. If we can weather the storm, of which there will be many this afternoon, there is no reason we cannot get something from this game. The longer the game goes without a city goal the better our chances.

I stressed yesterday that the result is not the be all and end all of our season and whilst I still feel that way, it does represent a great opportunity for this team to prove that they are capable of competing at the highest level.

I expect the line-up will look a little like this:

Szczesny

Djourou Mertesacker Koscienly Vermaelan

Arteta Song

Ramsey

Walcott Gervinho

Robin Van Persie

This is a team which on paper is strong but on form is even stronger. I am confident that this group of players are capable of beating Man City. It will require tactical discipline, great commitment and ruthlessness in front of goal. The diamond up top will need to be on fine form and will really need to apply some pressure on the opposition defence. Man City are not unbeatable and that was proved last week. A win here will see us 6 points off the top of the table which is phenomenal given the start to the season we had to endure. Either way the team has made me proud to be a gooner, regardless of result this afternoon.

I would also like to take this opportunity to remember some of our fallen keepers who have struggled for form and fitness this season. The entire GoonerVerse wishes you well but are delighted you are not playing.