EBOUE (3+3):Right midfield in front of Sagna or just reserve  right back ?  I’d rather have Walcott in the offensive position, or Hleb. Eboue still tends to overreact to tackles he doesn’t like and his abuse of officials is another thing AW must curtail. Could have been sent off against Ajax for a stupid challenge whilst on a booking. Do we potentially want four full  backs in the wide positions ?

HLEB (3+2-1 goal): PLEASE not as the support  man for Van Persie -AW is not a coward, but anything other than 4-4-2  (especially at home ) is a coward’s
formation. Has always shown signs of  dribbling skills but holds on to the ball too long for my liking. His goalscoring record needs to improve. I expect him to start as first choice  on the right (or in 4-4-1-1).

FABREGAS (3+1): Everybody and his wife seem  to love the boy so how can I not ? All I will say is that he is no longer a  prodigy/teenager and his use by AW
as a kind of quarterback with every play revolving around him heaps much responsibility upon him , and with his almost  guaranteed selection each match (like Henry ) a run of under-performance or an  injury (neither of which he has really had thus far ) could prove crucial . The question I ask is : How much better could he get? Or  is he one of those  players who peaks young and is burnt out in their mid-twenties (Stewart  Robson /Whiteside )- the physical demands of football today make a 15 year  top-flight career an exception rather than a rule. Needs to score more.

SONG (3): Never been that impressed .Tried out before the return of Gallas as a centre back pre-season , though not going to play there in a meaningful game.  There are better players as cover in the areas which are his strengths .If he was that good he would probably have stayed at AFC during the injury problems instead of being allowed to go to Charlton.

DENILSON (4+!): Technically a fine player but will need to find himself a regular starting position. His game does not naturally feature pacy runs down the flank ,and Gilberto/Fabregas have the central starting slots for the conceivable future, so he will have to wait for his fellow  Brazilian to relinquish his position .Still looks fragile but at 19 he has time to bulk up.

WALCOTT (3 -1goal) : Still needs to regain fitness for a lengthy period to prove himself. Played well against the weak Genclerbirligi but could do with 
more tricks to complement his obvious pace. Most wide players have a “honeymoon ” year when their tricks work against the unprepared (Limpar a prime example ) but when these are learned only the better wide players can continue with consistent success (Ryan Giggs ). Has said himself that he prefers central  forward but will AW play him there? Not sure yet. At 18, he has time.

FLAMINI (5+2- 1 goal) : He may be on his way before the season starts. Will never be more than competent cover in central midfield and having stated that he doesn’t want to fill in again at left back (where he was exceptional in the 05-06 Champions League). He is unlikely to change the course of a game and there are players with better movement/technique at the club (Denilson for instance ).Not a bad player – but not good enough.

RANDALL (3+2): It would be nice to think that a  young Englishman could still progress through the ranks at the club – I expect AW would like to think so too, as he has pushed Mark into the first team squad very early on last  season and this. But he still has a lot to learn. His concentration sometimes lapses alarmingly during youth/reserve matches I ‘ve seen and he must  learn to control his temper and tackling ,which has seen him sent off three  times (that I ‘ve seen ) for the club in the last 18 months. One of them was for head-butting a Spurs player. An important year in which he must learn how to control a match .

LANSBURY (1+1- 1 goal ): Another young English  central midfielder who would have become AFC’s youngest ever 1st teamer had he  come off the bench in
the League Cup at Anfield . Currently on his way to Korea  with England’s u17 squad . Has suffered from Osgood’s Disease ,a muscular  difficulty common to
young players ,which sometimes has stopped him from playing twice in rapid succession (this is neither permanent nor career-threatening ). Shows drive and tackling  ability, and popped up with a late volley inside the box in the reserve win at Hampton, but has to be more consistent with his passing .

GIBBS (!+1) :The left-footed midfielder showed great improvement last season,  ending it with a place on the Portsmouth bench, having scored a winning Youth
Cup goal in front of 38,000 at the Emirates.Was rewarded with a chance against Inter Milan .There are certain positions at AFC which are over-stocked
with players ,but occasionally an opportunity emerges when there are surprisingly few candidates .The departure of Reyes has left a dearth of left-footed players and the English scholar showed last season that his directness allayed to a fierce shot on goal (plus a freak wind-assisted  goal direct from a corner ! ) could push him rapidly up the pecking order. One to watch, I think .

MERIDA (2+1): Has a wonderful touch with his left foot and is capable of spectacular long-range strikes from set-pieces and open play. Obviously something noted by fellow left-footer and Head of Youth Development  Liam Brady. It would be fair to say he is technically comparable to Fabregas ,although playing them together would probably leave a central midfield  physically short, and he seems not to have the strength or pace for a wide role currently. Off to the FIFA u17 event with Spain (having beaten his AFC England colleagues in the European final ).

DIABY (2+1) : The new Vieira? Will we ever find out? He seems prone to  injury. AW obviously wants to integrate him into the side ,as he tried him last 
season in a supporting attacker role, and as a left midfielder, neither of which really worked . In the centre of midfield (easily his best position ) his  ability to run with the ball and (obvious ) strength could be a boon. But how many chances will he get with the aforementioned Gilberto/Fabregas pairing clearly in command?

ROSICKY(2+2) : If AW wants to persist with an attacking midfielder supporting  one striker, then Rosicky is the best bet, though the Czech is another that
seems  to struggle with fitness. He is likely to start as a left midfielder (unless a late signing arrives) although he could be a valid option on the other
flank. Showed signs last term that, given an injury-free run of games, he could make a significant contribution. The goal tally from the middle of the
park will be crucial post-Henry.

EASTMOND (1): New scholar this season. Has played right back and central midfield and already has shown confidence in his distribution and positional
solidity. Looks similar to Theo Walcott from distance. Too early to tell.

DUNNE (2): Feisty central/right midfielder who works extremely hard during the games I’ve seen, although colleagues such as Randall and Lansbury appear to have caught the eye more . At some clubs I suspect his qualities may be appreciated more by the “higher ups”. One of those who may achieve less at the club than they deserve for their efforts. Still has the majority of his scholarship to prove himself .

WATT (1): In his opening year as a scholar, having already scored for the England u15 side in the Victory Shield .Can play wide or in central midfield, with trickery and pace.

EVINA (0+1): Another new scholar (or apprentice ). Can play left back or further up the flank and appears mobile and eager to join in attacking movements. We’ll see.

WILTSHERE (0+1-1 goal) : Was very impressive in his appearance at Bishops Stortford, scoring the equaliser late on, bursting through into the box from 
midfield.Another boy already playing with English national age group sides before his sixteenth birthday .

AYLING (0+1): Similar to the above. Because of player shortages, Ayling was introduced to the reserve set-up last year even before joining the club  full-time, a
policy that may bear fruit for Neil Banfield and Steve Bould, with  last year’s Premier Reserve side predominantly featuring under-18 players and the youth side integrating players of barely fifteen years old, who are still eligible for three more seasons at that level.

GILBERTO: Obviously not played yet. I would much prefer him as captain ahead of Gallas (although Kolo Toure would probably be my choice, as long as it 
did not affect his game ). You know what you get and do not get with the Brazilian, who particularly takes my eye when he tracks back to cover less disciplined colleagues . I’m not  convinced that we could not find better –Petit /Vieira /left foot/right foot/tackling/passing /scoring was a completely different thing, especially with 
an Overmars outlet, but these are different times. He will doubtless do what he is paid for and hopefully contribute goals – though  maybe not from the penalty spot, if Van Persie has his way .

What a lot of players AFC have !!

Tonight’s game will be easier than Spurs on Saturday, since Manchester City don’t have Berbatov, Lennon or Keane.

City are unbeaten in their last five, since going down 1-0 at Chelsea on March 14. They’ll play 4-5-1 with DaMarcus Beasley and Darius Vassell wide, and Joey Barton coming forward, looking to release Beasley and Vassell in the channels.

It will be interesting to see what Barton can do in this game. He shows his buttocks and studs too often, but I kinda like him. At 24, he’s a good footballer who might grow up.

Emile Mpenza has 44 caps for Belgium. He has improved City because he can play the ball back to his midfielders and also turn and run with it. Mpenza has settled into the rough-and-tumble of English football quite quickly with two goals in nine games. He is doubtful with a hip injury.

Micah Richards is a phenomenal athlete who can play in four positions but has not yet  mastered of any of them. In a good side, Richards might be awesome, but in a poor side like Man City, he has often been pretty average. His recovery pace gets him out of jail. Richards is injured at the moment.

As a right back, Onuoha is better than Richards defensively, so City don’t miss the newly-capped England teenager that much.

Michael Johnson is an English kid of 19 who runs marathons to block off the channels and break up moves. Good positional sense, no pace, can pick a pass occasionally. But mostly you won’t notice Johnson. He plays an anchor role with Sun Jihai, who always passes it square.

Keeper Isaksson is shaky on crosses but Arsenal don’t hit many crosses.

Left back Kevin Ball is a nice footballer that City got on a free from PSV Eindhoven. Before City were safe, Ball was very, very well protected by Vassell, who worked back dutifully to cover Ball, who is pretty slow.

City played Liverpool on Saturday and Liverpool never really got behind their defence. They did a lot of running to force Liverpool to pass it square and the game finished 0-0.

So Manchester City are strong defensively, but not offensively. They’re a mid-table side, 12th in the Premiership with 41 points from 33 games. That’s 1.25 points per game and with five games left, City should get another six points and finish on 47 points. They are survivalists who owe £50 million.

I’m expecting Arsenal’s midfielders to score two goals against City tonight.

Whereas the 2-1 win over Bolton was a turn-the-corner game, an end-the-sequence game, this is a build-on-Bolton game, a make-sure-of-fourth place game.

Rosicky got lucky when Nicky Hunt chested Adebayor’s cross to him for the equaliser. And Fabregas kept his cool after scooting onto a killer pass from Gilberto. That goal showed his class and showed that Fab4 can score plenty more goals in the future.

Then ref Rob Styles didn’t give a penalty when Eboue handled the ball twice before kicking it out. Styles gave a corner. If Arsenal have that kind of luck against Man City and Spurs, it’s six points in the bag !

Unfortunately, Ljungberg is out with a hamstring injury.That is bad news because Freddie knows how to play short passes and make short runs in a 4-5-1 system.

CITY AND ARSENAL last met on August 26, just after Arsenal clinched qualification for the Champions League by beating Dinamo Zagreb 2-1.

In that game, Henry and van Persie each missed three good chances and City won 1-0 and it was their first win against Arsenal in 15 years.

The goal came from a blunder by left back Justin Hoyte, who allowed a crossfield ball to go past him without realising that Trevor Sinclair was there, and when Hoyte turned, Sinclair tumbled over his leg – a 24-carat penalty. A ridiculous, pathetic penalty to concede. Most Premiership coaches would feel humiliated if one of his defenders did what Hoyte did in that incident. Joey Barton smashed it in off the underside.

Stuart Pearce said, “As a collective, we proved they’re not good enough to knock us over on a given day.”

My verdict was : pretty football fails again.

Thierry Henry said, “We should have won that game easy.”

Henry said a lot of other stuff as well, such as : If we keep playing like that, blah blah blah.

This was August 26, 2006, and I was sickened by Henry’s list of excuses. Often in these after-match interviews he is plausible, charming, funny and fair. And sometimes he’s generous to his opponents. He knows how to be a star. And he knows how to be a humble star. He is very good at being a humble star on camera.

But here Henry was in denial. I didn’t like what he said. I really, really didn’t like what he said after that game.

Arsene admitted the Hoyte -Sinclair incident was a penalty.

He said, “There’s a lot of potential in the team. We are not completely ready yet. When we’re sharper physically, we’ll win our games.”

George Graham said, “They’ve got to learn the art of defending.”

I thought, “Some hopes, George ! It’s been ten years !”