Having been vanquished in the FA Cup on Saturday, Kevin Keegan's men return to the Emirates Stadium in what will probably be a much changed encounter, in terms of both personnel and tactics.

Keegan has struggled to provide any kind of attacking impetus, which is what he's known for. Granted, it's only been two games, but all they've managed is a single, solitary shot on goal.

They passed well enough against Arsenal on Saturday, before being taken apart after Adebayor scored the first, but that was a cup-tie, and the league will be different, because there are points at stake.

So it remains to be seen whether Keegan will ditch his attacking mindset and come in an go with a 4-5-1 and try to battle for some kind of result. After all, he wouldn't want his comeback to have ended before it's even begun.

Arsenal will change a few personnel around - Theo Walcott and Justin Hoyte both started at the weekend, and I expect them to be rested.  Almunia will return as well. With injuries to Rosicky and Van Persie, I don't expect too many changes elsewhere in the side. Theo will feature as a sub, but might even be in contention to come in for Hleb.

GK: Almunia

RB: Sagna
CB: Gallas
CB: Senderos
LB: Clichy

RM: Hleb/Theo
CM: Cesc
CM: Flamini
LM: Diaby

ST: Adebayor
ST: Eduardo

As for Newcastle, they always have ever-changing team news, but today's lineup should look almost exactly like the one at the weekend (4-4-2):
GK: Given, RB: Carr, CB: Taylor, CB: Rozehnal, LB: Enrique, RM: Milner, CM: Butt, CM: N'Zogbia, LM: Duff, ST: Owen, ST: Smith

There's not too many changes that Kevin can make, but Rozehnal might be better equipped to handle Ade's aerial threat. They will probably start Smith, because he grafts and can drop deep to make it a 4-5-1 when needed, but if not then Viduka will have some part to play after returning from injury.

Arsenal struggled, and probably came away with an undeserved 1-1 draw against Spurs in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi final at Ashburton Grove. It was Tottenham who created the most chances and controlled most of the play, with Dimitar Berbatov especially impressive, but Theo Walcott shot deflected in off his own chest to steal a draw for the Gunners after Jermaine Jenas had given their local rivals the lead.

Let's keep this all in perspective however - Tottenham's first team put in one of their best performances of the season, and Arsenal's second team put in one of their worst performances of the season, and Spurs still couldn't beat us.

The goals are below:

Unfortunately Arsenal's thinning squad took further blows as Robin Van Persie, Johan Djourou and Philippe Senderos were all injured. With Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Eboue and Alex Song away in Ghana for the African Cup of Nations, and Lassana Diarra looking likely to leave, there suddenly looks to be a big shortage of defensive talent in the squad.

Gallas is the only recognised first-choice centreback, and although Justin Hoyte filled in well in the second-half for Djourou, he is not going to win many balls in the air. That might mean Gilberto dropping back alongside Gallas, but then with Diarra possibly leaving, it leaves Mathieu Flamini as the sole recognised defensive/holding midfielder.

Van Persie's unfortunate attempt at a comeback will be regarded less seriously at the moment due to the fine form of Eduardo, but things can change very easily. It's a big month or two for Arsenal, and Arsene Wenger just might look into bringing some players in, perhaps even on loan.

The big news for the Carling Cup semifinal first leg at Ashburton Grove is that Lassana Diarra has been dropped, and that Robin Van Persie is in the squad. Fran Merida has also been left out, and that probably means that he's on his way to Chris Coleman's Real Socieded on-loan for the rest of the season.

Diarra not being in the squad means he's probably on his way, or that he's causing enough trouble for Wenger not to want him anywhere near the squad. Not quite sure what is running through his odd little (big?) head, but Arsenal has always been the place to be for young French players, and Wenger has an excellent track record of making them into internationals. Diarra is just 22, and his a big future ahead of him, but he's still quite raw. He wants to play so that he can be a France regular, but the irony is that most of his appearances for France have been filling at right-back, so what is he aiming for exactly?

He came from a Chelsea team that played ugly football and where he got no chances to an Arsenal team that plays wonderful football, and where he's gotten some chances, but what does he expect? To walk into a midfield that has Fabregas, Hleb, Rosicky, and Flamini playing out of his skin? Like Wenger said, he has to work his way into the starting lineup, that's how it is at a big club, and Diarra is causing problems and talking too much without having earned the right to do so.

He is a talented lad, and I hope he just goes out on loan, because the futures of Gilberto and Flamini are still in some doubt, so we might well need his holding abilities next year. Sam Allardyce was rumoured to be interested in signing him for Newcastle, but Sam Allardyce has been sacked, so who knows.

As for Van Persie, it's a welcome return for him. I doubt that he'll be starting, but it's a fantastic option to have him coming off the bench, and his individual genius is going to be much needed over the coming months. In games like the ones against Newcastle, Middlesborough and Portsmouth, where the team dropped points and looked uninspired, Van Persie could have made the difference with a dribble or free-kick or one of those inch-perfect shots from impossible angles.

The squad is as follows:

2 Abou DIABY
3 Bacary SAGNA
6 Philippe SENDEROS
9 EDUARDO
11 Robin VAN PERSIE
15 DENILSON
19 GILBERTO
20 Johan DJOUROU
21 Lukasz FABIANSKI (GK)
26 Nicklas BENDTNER
30 Armand TRAORE
31 Justin HOYTE
32 Theo WALCOTT
36 Mark RANDALL
40 Vito MANNONE (GK)
41 Gavin HOYTE

They are likely to lineup as:

Fabianski

Hoyte Djourou Senderos Traore

Walcott Denilson Gilberto Diaby

Bendtner Eduardo

That's a fairly straightforward 4-4-2, but Walcott will probably push further forward, with Diaby staying more central, and it might well be 4-3-3 depending on the situations.

The other possibilities are Sagna playing at left-back (Traore was awful against Burnley), or at right-midfield, with Theo on the left or up front. Van Persie could play wide in a 4-4-2, or on either flank in the 4-3-3, although the right-side is preferred by him.

Spurs have no real news coming into this game. Ledley King has returned for them at the back, and Michael Dawson will partner him in the middle. They have more or less a full strength side with Bale and Kaboul the only noteworthy absentees.

Update: Juande Ramos has apparently dropped Paul Robinson for this game 

A fact that many people are unaware of, but which is still quite outstanding, is that Arsene Wenger has never lost to lower-league opposition in his 11+ years as Arsenal manager. His 616 games as an Arsenal manager have included 98 cup ties, but none of them have ever been lost to lower league opposition, and that continued to be the case today as Burnley were edged out by a patchy Arsenal side.

It was a mix of youth and experience - Sagna was restored to right-back, Toure and Eboue played 90 minutes and gave whole-hearted "last" performances before leaving for the African Cup of Nations, and Gilberto and Lehmann got some first team action. There were no real surprises in the line-up, with Traore coming in for the rested Clichy, and Diaby and Denilson completing the midfield. Up front it was Eduardo and Bendtner, and the side was altogether too strong for Burnley.

Eduardo scored the first goal after being put through by a nicely weighted Toure long pass, which he controlled and then carefully poked past the onrushing Gabor Kiraly. The Crozilian then played a simple slide rule pass into Bendtner's run, and the Dane rounded Kiraly before slotting home in one cool movement.

Burnley didn't offer too much, but they had the first chance of the match, with Kyle Lafferty thumping a header against the bar. Lafferty was then sent off for a clumsy lunge at Gilberto. It wasn't two-footed, but the foot was high off the ground and it could have done some serious damage if Gilberto's leg had been planted.

Overall, Owen Coyle can be proud of the effort his boys put in, but they will need much more than fighting spirit to improve things in the league. 

This one is more speculation than anything else, but he has already been linked to the Gunners, and would be something of a perfect signing.

He's very pacy, very direct, and can dribble, shoot and pass, and is quite a fiery character. He might not be as creative or classy as Hleb or Van Persie, but his overall game is outstanding for a guy his age, and he has an unbelievable work ethic.

He can play up front, or on the left, or on the right, and can do all three very well, so that would be a huge plus for an Arsenal side that lacks genuine wingers, and doesn't have much striking depth, and where players like Eduardo, Walcott and Rosicky are supposed to be versatile, but had proved to be far from effective.

He will also not take time to adapt to the English game, something which has been a huge problem for Eduardo, and for many previous Wenger signings.

He's also a good kid with strong character, an excellent professional, and isn't into the whole drinking & partying culture that so many of the young British footballers are into, so he's an excellent candidate for Wenger, who is in any case biased towards "winger-strikers".

Let's see how the form book looks after the next few weeks, and if the Arsenal have been a bit goal-shy, this might be a move worth making. 

Well Arsenal ended their unbeaten run of 28 games in all competition in Spain tonight, losing 3-1 to Sevilla. The referee was not great, and gave a free-kick to them that was never a free-kick, and which also resulted in the second goal. Even worse than the referee though, was Philippe Senderos, who single-handedly tried to hand Sevilla the match with clearances and decision of such severe incompetence that he almost made one long for Alex Song. Almost as bad, was Fredi Kanoute, whose finishing was just god-awful. He should have at least scored a brace, if not a hat-trick, and the scoreline really should have been 4-1 or 5-1 to Sevilla.

I suppose there are some "positives" to take from the game, for both sets of fans.

For Sevilla - well they will have restored some pride, and can look forward to being the group winners. They avenged their 3-0 loss in London, and looked once again like the team that was so sensational last season, and are continuing to come out of the shadows of the sad death of Antonio Puerta, and the sudden departure of coach Juande Ramos to Tottenham. Luis Fabiano continued his good form, and Jesus Navas was especially mesmerising towards the latter stages of the game.

And for the Arsenal? Well this was as good a game to lose as any. They've lost in a somewhat meaningless game to one of Europe's best teams. They've lost badly, and it's broken their unbeaten run, but it's without detriment to their progress into the next phase in the Champions League, and it would have had far worse effects in the league. Let's face it - they would have lost sooner or later, and it's better that it happened now so that they can address their shortcomings, rather than later, because there won't be a game this unimportant for a while.

Also, let's also take into account the fact that they played with three second choice defenders - Hoyte was average, Senderos awful, and Traore lost (but promising), and three second choice midfielders - Denilson was OK but ineffective, Gilberto was OK but made scary errors, and Eboue was exciting but wildly wasteful. And upfront, they were missing first choices Adebayor and Van Persie, with Nicklas Bendtner and Eduardo making their first starts in this competition. Eduardo was somewhat wasted out on the left, but did well for his goal, which was set up by the young Dane Bendtner.

So a side shorn of their top scoring strikers (Ade and RvP), captain (Gallas), most influential ball winner (Flamini) and most influential attacking midfielder (Hleb) lost to a full-strength Sevilla side.

It's not the end of the world. 

The first goal, scored by Eduardo. A cracker after good work by Bendtner, who had a good game without being too effective:

Second goal, again by Eduardo, and a great pass from the youngster Kieran Gibbs. Some of you might remember him from the Emirates Cup where he played very well against Inter Milan. He was on the wing in that game, and Arsene Wenger described him afterwards as a "mini Ryan Giggs". Well, on Wednesday he played at left-back and gave a good account of himself, even though he is primarily an attacking player. Just goes to show the "total football" philosophy that is running through the club at the moment:

As for the third goal, well Denilson had a pop from long range, and it went in via a slight deflection from the defender, although enough to deceive the 'keeper. Denilson had a fantastic game, and this was a great reward for him:

Other honourable mentions go to Theo Walcott, who looks much more confident, and hit the post, and Lassana Diarra, who looks a fearsome prospect (although he hung on to the ball a bit more than he needed do, but he was probably just trying to impress).