So Arsene and the boys know what to expect. Meanwhile Freddy is claiming that the Gunners are ready and will be prepared to stand up to the bullies. Pity Sam has such a shite record against Man U and Wigan this season, perhaps Arsenal can learn from that. Certainly it will be no time to be shy in front of goal.

November is a very long month and Arsenal have only won one league game during it, there again the Gunners have only lost one league game. The problem is that they have drawn two, the pace is so intense that this has seen them drop further behind the leaders. The so- called November blip has always been a feature of Wenger’s Arsenal, only once or twice has it been avoided. Five points out of twelve has seen Arsenal drop to 12 points behind Man U. No doubt on Super Sunday one of the top two, or both, will drop points. But that is irrelevant if Arsenal does not win its own games.

Bolton are also suffering a November blip, far worse than Arsenal, as they have not won a match since 22 October. Their November started in October when Sam’s boys lost to Alex’s boys 4-0 on October 28^th at home! So they are exactly the kind of team due some charity from Arsenal. Here is a team completely in the Doldrums, unable to win, and spent a fortune on a striker unable to score, so we can expect that to be rectified. Arsenal fans will jeer Anelka and he will repay them by scoring. Can’t we just ignore the miserable bastard? It has been denied that the sulk will be sold. Lets be friendly to him, that will piss him off and he will sulk and do nothing.

Then there is the added problem of Arsenal not always performing that well (bit of an understatement that) at the Reebok, last year was a languid 2-0 defeat. Such poor performances were not always the case, and Arsenal had an easy victory there on the way to winning the league at Old Trafford. It’s only the last few seasons that Arsenal lost their way a bit. Bolton are a team that defend vigorously, and can attack with pace. Last year they were always looking for set pieces and throw-ins to get goals. I swear they would rather win a corner than risk shooting. But this season they have been more direct, but inspite of playing a more attractive game they have not been that effective.

Bolton are suffering in the NorthWest and haven’t had to go far for the pleasure, with both Man U and Wigan beating them at Bolton, and Everton at Goodison. It means that Sam will be desperate to reverse their bad form. It’s all to play for, forget the attempt to clean up his image; he needs the points to achieve his top five dream. He believes he has a dead cert way of getting points off Arsenal. Mr Hansen will be licking his lips, this will be real football, a team getting into fancy dan foreigners faces.

Lets hope that anti-football gets the reception it deserves, but it wont be easy.

Gallas is still injured but Gilberto is back and there are no new injuries. However Arsenal had a very tough match on Tuesday, while Bolton had their feet up, so Wenger will have to husband resources very carefully. Against Hamburg he won the battle of the subs, he will need to get that absolutely right again.