Arsenal To Win Tonight and Go Second in the Premier League

A week after a fairly sound thrashing from Barcelona in the Champions league we return to action tonight with a trip to our closest geographical rivals, the Spuds, in the Premier League.

Obviously in footballing terms they are anything but close rivals as it has been more than 10 years since they beat us in a league game and in that time we have won two doubles, another league title, and a couple of FA Cups compared to a League Cup victory for them. We have also qualified for the Champions League in every single one of those seasons, but they have failed to ever make it that far.

This season we were predicted by the majority of the so called experts to slip back down the league and become also-rans but much to their surprise in a roller coaster season for us we have the chance to go second in the table tonight only three points behind the leaders Chelsea with four games to go.

The Spuds were one of the teams predicted to possibly take over from us in the top four and they have looked capable of doing it all season until very recently. With the finish line in sight they were soundly beaten by Sunderland last week and a defeat tonight will leave them four points behind Man City with five games left for both clubs.

They both have some very tough games left but if we beat the Spuds tonight then City will be very clear favorites and after losing their FA Cup semifinal to already relegated Portsmouth on Sunday, the Spuds will be left facing another season that promised so much and delivered absolutely nothing.

Our chances of catching Chelsea took a bit of a dent last night when they only managed to beat Bolton 1-0 in a game that I would have thought they would win easily. Speaking after the game, the Bolton manager wasn't happy about the refereeing in the game as Bolton were denied two certain penalties after handballs by serial cheats Terry and Drogba.

They're the type of breaks a title winning team get sometimes but at least Bolton showed that Chelsea can be got at and their last four games are no foregone conclusion. Strangely enough if we beat the Spuds tonight we will be cheering them on when they play Chelsea on Sunday evening.

In team news, the boss said that Campbell will play, but Song is still injured and will not be available for the weekend trip to Wigan either. However, the really big news was the return of RVP to the squad. The boss said he will start on the bench but he will get introduced at some stage during the game.

It's great to see him back and most Arsenal fans genuinely believe that if he hadn't got injured on international duty last November that we would be sitting on top of the league table at the moment. I'm sure it will take him a while to get his match fitness back, but the boss says he looks fit and sharp in training.

Hopefully he can play enough of a part in the last five games to at least ensure that we finish second above "Manure" if Chelsea don't drop enough points for us to catch them.

With so many injuries I expect the team more or less picks itself with Almunia in goal and a back four of Sagna, Vermaelen, Campbell, and Clichy. The midfield should consist of Denilson, Diaby and, Nasri with a front three of Rosicky, Bendtner and, Walcott.

There really aren't too many more options, but Eduardo, Eboue, Silvestre, Traore, Merida, RVP, and Fabianski will probably be on the bench. There might be a place on that bench for Vela, but after being unable to locate his passport for the trip to Barcelona last week I doubt it.

We have to play our normal game and keep possession as much as possible. The Spuds are bound to be a little tired from their exertions on an energy sapping pitch on Sunday which lasted 120 minutes. There's no point in looking at who is missing for them as we are a better team even with so many of our top players out injured.

They do have a danger man in Bale on the left, which is why I expect Sagna to start ahead of Eboue as he is more defensively strict and should be able to keep Bale under wraps hopefully. We can expect the supposed purists to keep playing long balls to Crouch at every opportunity and we not only need to challenge him for them, but also be ready to clear up any knock downs from those long balls.

As the game goes on we are bound to have more energy and I expect us to take control later in the game and score one or two goals in the last twenty minutes. I'm predicting a 3-1 win for Arsenal and I think Bendtner will score at least one of them. It will be great to see RVP making his reappearance and hopefully it will give the whole team a boost.

The players need to be brave enough to keep passing to Arsenal players and ignore the crowd as they are bound to be very loud in what is always their biggest game of the season. That's it for today as I'm in a desperate hurry, but wherever you're watching the game I hope you enjoy another victory for Arsenal.