Arsenal preview

Jon Champion, during last night's coverage of Hamburg vs Fulham, sensationalised this game as "Arsenal vs Adebayor - the Re-match." Whilst Adebayor can be accused of turning the Eastlands tie into a personal battle, there is more at stake for the teams here. Arsenal will be trying to stem a run of two straight defeats - thus avoiding their first three consecutive defeats for almost three years - whilst City have got to put the anguish of the derby behind them.

Arsene Wenger has asked the Arsenal fans not to bait Adebayor, but Ade made his proverbial bed through his actions in the first fixture and he will undoubtedly have to deal with the consequences. As both Mancini and Toure have publicly urged, Adebayor will have to keep calm and retain his focus if he is going to have another successful return against his old club. Robin Van Persie should be making his timely return but some strong refereeing will be all it takes to stop the battle from crossing the white line.

City struggled to compete against the extra number in midfield last week and Arsenal, as do all the top four more-or-less, play the same system. To return to the 4-3-2-1 formation that was successful in our last trip to a top-four London-based side, would be to try to win the battle in midfield - with Vieira, De Jong and Barry breaking it down and then releasing our pacy forwards on to the not-so-quick Sol Campbell. Mancini may feel that De Jong and Barry may be enough to win the pretty, but not too physical, midfield battle - and the goalscoring prowess of the front-four may help to persuade him to persevere with the more attack-minded system. With no new injury worries to speak of, Mancini should have the players available to field whichever gameplan he favours.

Possible team, 4-3-2-1:

Given; Onuoha, Toure, Kompany, Bridge; De Jong, Vieira, Barry; Bellamy, Adebayor; Tevez.

This selection would be unfair on Johnson, after his Etihad Player of the Month-winning performances, but the other three's experience could give them the nod. Shaun Wright-Phillips also has had a lot of success against Arsenal and he would be a good option to run at Clichy.

Arsenal have a lot of injury worries and if Song fails a fitness test, it will definitely leave them vulnerable - especially with Gallas and Vermaelen out. It will definitely still be a stern test, but it is perhaps a good time to be playing them - they probably only have pride to play for too. City will be looking to get something on the board, especially as we could be 6th by the end of the weekend, but when Mancini spoke of needing nine points from the last four games, this one is the only one we could afford to lose and still be fighting. Although I, for one, would like to avoid that extra pressure.