But in comes, presumably, Gilles Grimandi to partner Keown. Gilles has plenty of experience and ability. He has his detractors but would any of them really say that Sol's form has been better so far than what you'd expect from the Grimster?

And at left back we have the Holland left-back Bronco van Geoffhurst. Ok, so he was pants in that role when forced to cover for Ashley Cole last week. But he was presumably still reeling from the shock of seeing Vieira and Pires give the ball away with just about every touch they had.

It'll be interesting to see what defensive options are on the bench. With Oleg and Lee also injured, the most experienced defensive cover available would appear to be Matthew Upson.

In midfield and up front Wenger has the full range of options. Bronco moving to left back leaves room for Vieira, Parlour, Pires, and Ljungberg in midfield. Up front it's any 2 from 5, although Kanu does seem to be at the bottom of the list at the moment, as far as starting matches goes. Of course, Le Boss could surprise us and go with 3 strikers.

If Arsenal's problems are in defence, Schalke's are undoubtedly in midfield. They're missing Germans Sven Kmetsch and Jorg Boehme (who forced a save from Seaman in the England-Germany game), Jiri Nemec (the Czech star), and Marc Wilmots (Belgium). Their skipper, Polish defender Tomasz Waldoch, has a broken nose but is determined to play (possibly in a face mask). And Danish striker Ebbe Sand is also out.

Men to watch: strikers Victor Agali, Emile Mpenza, Gerald Asamoah (the black German who looked dangerous in the England game until Ashley clattered him), and Andreas bloody Moller.

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