Injured Party

After Walcott, Vela and Denilson came back, it was only fair that at least one more player be ruled out for a few months. It's not looking good at left-back, unless Armand Traore steps up his game. And as if Eliaquim Mangala's pretty vicious challenge on Gibbs wasn't damaging enough, Arshavin had to somehow injure one of our key defenders who is about eight times his size. Aside from that, he defended admirably for Liege, making a vital goalline clearance.

Wenger's got a lot of thinking to do before the Chelsea game. Whatever happens, he's likely to spring a surprise with his lineup, with things looking pretty bleak at the back. Senderos probably isn't an option if Gallas is out - he tends to not really understand what's going on in these fixtures - which leaves the reliable fans' favourite Silvestre to fit seamlessly into the defence as he always does, holding the offside trap and reacting quickly to through balls. Just to clarify, I'm pretty sure that Silvestre will single handedly throw this game for us.

Left-back is a trickier problem - do we keep faith with Traore after a dodgy performance against Sunderland, or move the more experienced but significantly slower Silvestre out from the middle? If so, that might require moving Song to centre back, where he tends to play very well when required, but we will need some midfield steel against Essien and Mikel.

With Diaby injured and Ramsey evidently not the player to complement Fabregas and Denilson, I should think that Wenger will keep Song in midfield. If Gallas isn't back in time, which unfortunately looks very likely, this is the lineup I expect he'll put out:

Almunia
Sagna
Traore
Vermaelen
Silvestre
Song
Denilson
Fabregas
Rosicky
Arshavin
Eduardo

I hope Rosicky starts because he's been excellent since he returned. Nasri or Walcott could well be in the forward three, but Walcott might be more useful as an impact sub when Chelsea inevitably turn sluggish in the second half. Arshavin's form has been patchy of late but he has a habit of saving his best for the big games, but Eduardo will be more difficult to predict. He's been shaky so far, but should be more confident after a successful international break.

Here's hoping 'short-ankled' Denilson can hit another screamer on Sunday...

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