Belgian side Standard Liege travel to North London this evening to take on a high-flying Arsenal outfit. The Gunners will be looking to regain the momentum that they look to have lost due to the international break, and also aiming to seal qualification for the Champions League knock-out stage. The Gunners currently sit comfortable at the top of Group H after four matches, and need just a point from their remaining two games to progress.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger will be boosted by the return to fitness of dynamic young fullback Kieren Gibbs. Gibbs will slot straight back into the Gunners defense at the expense of Armand Traore, as Gael Clichy is yet to recover from a back injury. Also sidelined are Robin van Persie, Abou Diaby, Johan Djourou and Lukasz Fabianski.

Emmanuel Eboue is likely to start at right back, as has become the norm in European ties, while the return to fitness of Theo Walcott and Denilson will see them fighting for selection. After Carlos Vela’s impressive cameo against Sunderland at the weekend, the young Mexican will also be in line for a berth in the starting eleven. That would leave the line-up looking something like this:

Vela – Eduardo – Arshavin
Denilson – Song – Fabregas
Gibbs – Vermaelen – Gallas – Eboue
Almunia

SUBSTITUTES: Mannone, Senderos, Sagna, Diaby, Rosicky, Nasri, Walcott.

Possible alterations to that line-up include the deployment of Samir Nasri or Tomas Rosicky anywhere in the midfield or as a wide forward, most likely at the expense of Carlos Vela, or possibly Denilson making way for Abou Diaby if the Brazilian is short on match fitness.

Liege will surely be short on confidence after suffering a 2-1 defeat at the hands of KAA Gent on the weekend, leaving them ten points adrift of league leaders Anderlecht. Liege will be without influential midfielder Steven Defour, while Igor De Camargo is sidelined with a broken toe. Liege will be relying on midfield wonderkid Axel Witsel top provide the spark the Belgians will require if they are to take anything away from tonight’s fixture.

Possibly the biggest blow of all to Liege’s chances is the withdrawal of star striker Milan Jovanovic. The Serbian international has been ruled out of tonight’s encounter with a thigh problem that has troubled him since Arsenal’s 3-2 win over the Belgians in mid September, a match in which Jovanovic netted a penalty.

With standard missing arguably their two finest players, they will have a tough task of beating the Gunners tonight. Arsenal will be hungry to cast away the demons of the weekend’s loss to Sunderland, and the perfect way to do that will be to get a win tonight. A landslide is not likely given the amount of personnel missing form Wenger’s Arsenal, however I cannot see past a Gunners victory tonight. I’m tipping 2-0, with Cesc Fabregas and Eduardo getting on the scoresheet.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 at 12:51 PM and is filed under Arsenal, Champions League, Match Previews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.