The defence has been looking good of late, and we have Johan Djourou as back-up for Kolo Toure and Philippe Senderos. But Freddie Ljungberg and Jose Antonio Reyes are both out, with calf and hamstring problems respectively. Freddie limped off 15 minutes into last weekend's Liverpool game, suffering a recurrence of the injury which he;d just come back from.

So, Alexander Hleb and Robert Pires seem bound for the wings (flanking Cesc and Gilberto, since Abou Diaby is also out with an ankle problem), and alongside Thierry Henry up front there are the options of van Persie, Dennis_Bergkamp:, and Emmanuel Adebayor. It seems that Wenger has decided to leave Theo Walcott out for now, and it'd be surprising if he made the bench today. As well as Djourou, Manuel Almunia, and the 2 strikers that miss out, we'll need space for further midfield cover, probably in the shape of Alex Song or Sebastian Larsson.

Ashley Cole and Gael Clichy are both at least 2 to 3 weeks away from return, and Pascal Cygan has apparently had a bit of a setback with his return from a hamstring problem. Charlton have a doubt over the fitness of striker Marcus Bent, who missed the last game against Middlesbrough with a hamstring strain. So former Gunner Jay Bothroyd could continue up front with Darren Bent. Or Alan Curbishley could could 4-5-1 bringing in Dennis Rommedahl. The dangerous Dane has been out injured but Curbs may want to give him a run out before the FA Cup QF against Boro on Thursday. Another former Gunner Jerome Thomas could feature too, he came off the bench in their last game, but Gonzaol Sorondo (who?) is out.