Barcelona Preview

Arsenal-Barcelona tonight is the pick of the quarter finals, and as Arsene Wenger said, could be the best game of the decade. So yeah, it's a big one.
Arsenal will go into it with Cesc Fabregas as a big doubt.

He didn't appear in training because at the moment he is not fit to play. We will give ourselves 24 hours more and we will assess the situation tomorrow. But today he would not be available. Sometimes you do not want to take a gamble in training because 24 hours more can help. You don't want him to get another kick so it was better that he didn't train. I would say it is 60 against, 40 for him playing.

Barcelona will be missing Andres Iniesta, so instead of playing the 4-2-4ish formation that they had been playing recently, they will play in a more traditional 4-3-3, with Xavi, Sergio Busquets and Yaya Toure, the last 2 as holding midfielders, with Toure a little higher advanced than Busquets. Up front it will be two of Ibrahimovic, Henry or Pedro with Messi on the right. If Pedro comes in for Ibrahimovic, Henry will play as a false nine, as he has in their 4-2-4ish formation.

For Arsenal, Andrey Arshavin and Samir Nasri should start after training. William Gallas could start as well, and if he can, he should. If Fabregas does not play, I think Samir Nasri will come in for Fabregas in the midfield, and Tomas Rosicky will play on the right wing. Alex Song will be restored to his midfield position, and hopefully Abou Diaby will be fit enough to start in the midfield as well. Nicklas Bendtner will start up front.

Both sides obviously play the same style of football, so it may come down to the managers out witting one another. One thing that Arsene Wenger could do is play Andrey Arshavin on the right flank and play either Samir Nasri or Tomas Rosicky on the left flank. They both have more defensive awareness than Arshavin, and with Messi on that side, tracking back will be important.

Projected lineups
Arsenal (4-2-1-3); Almunia; Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy; Song, Diaby; Nasri; Arshavin, Bendtner, Rosicky
Barcelona (4-3-3): Valdes; Dani Alves; Puyol, Pique, Maxwell; Xavi, Yaya Toure, Busquets; Henry, Ibrahimovic, Messi

Pre Match Arsenal v Hull City

Arsenal should beat Hull today even after the sub-par performance on
Wednesday against Burnley and missing Cesc Fabregas. However the
continuing injury problems are a definite cause for concern. Silvestre
playing left wing is a problem. His lack of speed will be exploited.
The way to play Arsenal now is to harry and get in hard, and shower
the box with high balls. Almunia looks shaky and teams will want to
exploit that. Unfortunately the days of scoring a lot of goals seem
over (see if I get my come-uppance from that today) and this has been
so since RVP’s injury but is moreover since Cesc’s injury. Cesc and
RVP have scored quite a few goals and they linked up nicely, without
them it falls to Arshavin but more must be expected from Walcott and
Nasri. The truth is that without Cesc and RVP we are a decent team
but lack a cutting edge. Hopefully this won’t matter against Hull.

Burnley preview

Big game tonight, as Arsenal need to go to places like Burnley and win to prove the pundits (I'm looking at you, Alan Hansen) that they can win the title. We beat Burnley 3-0 in the FA Cup at home last year, and lost to them 2-0 away in the Carling Cup. Some of those players in the Carling Cup (Ramsey, Vela, Merida, Wilshere, Fabianksi, Silvestre) will probably be on the squad tonight.
In injury news, Eboue is back, but Denilson and Traore are out. Traore has a hamstring injury that will keep him out for the Hull City game as well, while Denilson has a back problem that they're treating with caution, because he's just back from a back injury. According to Arsene, Arshavin will play tonight. Arsene talks about Arshavin's toughness, saying:

I have not met many with his pain threshold

With Denilson out, Diaby will probably start. I think the team will be: Almunia; Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Silvestre; Fabregas, Song, Diaby; Nasri, Arshavin, Vela
Subs: Fabianski, Senderos, Eboue, Ramsey, Merida, Walcott, Eduardo
I don't think Walcott starts, as he is coming back from injury and started last week's game.
The Boss also talks about his confidence in Almunia. That's all well, but Almunia does not fill me with confidence, and I'd pick Fabianski. Arsene also talks about the transfer window, making no guarentees. He says

But I don't want to promise things that I don't really know I will do at the moment.Mainly I am expecting our players to come back [from injury].

I'm skeptical about whether he will sign anyone. Bendtner and Rosicky are coming back in January (They'll be like New Signings!) and he is confident in Walcott, Vela and Eduardo, and of course Arshavin.
Not much else going on, match report later.

Arsenal name squad

Philippe Senderos is left out again, and I really think he's going to go in the Winter Transfer window. And, as Berty Me said earlier, Silvestre doesn't inspire anyone with confidence, but it looks like Arsene will not buy a defender. As Berty Me reports:

Always believing in attack Arsene reponse to a question about the January transfer window and Song’s departure to the ACN was "I don't believe we are especially short in midfield, I just believe we are short up front." Yet what about cover, especially with how thin our defense it. Arsene seems again to out his trust in Sylvester. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

As usual, it looks like Arsene won't buy more than one player in the window, if at all.
The 18 man squad is in, and 10 teenagers are in it. Sanchez Watt is a notable miss, as he played for the Reserves tonight in their 1-0 loss to Fulham. A shame for Sanchez, as I thought this could be a good chance to impress. Walcott, Vela, Song, Silvestre and Ramsey will make the trip, but Eduardo is apparently short of fitness. Hopefully now first team player gets injured.
Personally I think the lineup will be:

Arsenal (4-3-3): Fabianksi, Gilbert, Song, Bartley, Silvestre; Ramsey, Eastmond, Merida; Walcott, Vela, Wilshere
Subs: Mannone, Cruise, Ayling, Emmanuel-Thomas, Sunu, Randall, Coquelin