Abdoulaye Meite (calf) and Gary Speed (dead leg) are both doubtful but Ivan Campo has recovered from a virus.

Arsenal will rest Thierry Henry and Jens Lehmann but Freddie Ljungberg, Alexander Hleb and Johan Djourou all return to the squad after injury.

William Gallas, Emmanuel Eboue, Mathieu Flamini and Philippe Senderos are out.

Gallas has a thigh injury, Eboue and Flamini ankle problems and Senderos is suspended.

As to Bolton, for a start, I’m surprised why we haven’t been making simple adjustments to put a wrench in the works of their system. They have been very successful at exploiting our weaknesses but every system has a weakness and Bolton’s has a few too that we can exploit. For example, besides the obvious reducing the concession of throw-ins and corners, why don’t we put a man right in front of the thrower like I’ve seen some teams do to negate the long throw threat? That would certainly put off the thrower. Why don’t we put at least one man in front of the corner taker to try and obscure the taker’s view? These two actions will at least make it difficult to execute their set pieces.

Many people have made the obvious comment that our system relies on pin point accuracy and if our intricate passes are not perfect, we struggle but people don’t realise that the same holds for Bolton; if their long throws and first knock on’s and other set plays are not spot on, they too struggle. Let’s try to make their set plays as difficult as possible by making these simple adjustments to make their deliveries just that little bit harder. Afraid of their long balls? Make sure our front man badger and hurry the passer so that it’s that much harder to deliver an accurate pass from deep. Get the picture? This will unsettle and make them think for a change and through the confusion will allow us to hit them on a break.

I think for our bogey teams, we need to have a special unique game plan e.g. the Bolton Brief or Operation Annihilate Bully. Let’s give them a taste of their own medicine and unsettle them and not let them play their game at their own stadium for a change. It might just work…

It’ll be interesting to see who Wenger plays because he’s got a few options in midfield, with Denilson, Rosicky, Gilberto, Hleb, Walcott, Diaby and Baptista (although I hope he plays upfront) and even Aliadiere could be used on the wing with his pace.

Did anyone else think Aliadiere moved like Pires at the weekend? He’s got loads of pace and knows where the goal is so should be used more I think.