It is possible that does not include the card at Sheffield, but if it doesn’t that is still nine in total, not ten. He is going to have to watch himself – if he get 10 yellows before March the FA will be pretty cross with him. He will get extra an suspension, plus he possibly could get a warning and a fine at some stage. Some of the bookings are unlucky, like the one at Sheffield, but most of them are his own fault. So van Persie is not suspended and will travel with the squad for the FA Cup.

However Arsenal will be without Cesc and Adebayor, and Wenger has struggled to get a balanced midfield whenever he has not used Fabregas. Recently this site asked could Arsenal win without Cesc? The answer seemed to be no – but it must be kept in mind that Henry, Rosicky (correction that should read Hleb) and Adebayor were also missing when the defeat came at Sheffield..

Wenger will put out a strong team at Anfield, and he now has far more players to choose from than even a week ago.

Liverpool will want revenge for their 3-0 defeat at Arsenal, since that defeat the Scousers went on a run that has put them a point above the Gunners, but Arsenal fans shouldn’t be overawed by that as those results include losing 1-0 at Blackburn. True they are a different proposition at home, but Portsmouth got a 0-0 draw there. Arsenal have had tough games at Chelsea and Manchester United, no pundit gave them a chance. Yet the win at Manchester was achieved without Henry, and the Chelsea result was achieved without Gallas or Toure.

Of course the cup is different competition and the prize is even bigger this year, who will be the first team to win at the new Wembley? Benitez would love it to be Liverpool as they won the first cup at the Millenium stadium (we won’t discuss that here). So there is a motivation for Arsenal, as if any should be needed. Henry and Ljungberg, as far as I can remember, are the only Arsenal players that survive from that day. Arsenal have only been beaten once in their last eight games, and that was with a far weaker team than Wenger would have wished. It is not the team he would have chosen. So it could be the irremovable force against the irresistible object.

The squad will fly home on Saturday, and a fresh (well not that fresh squad) will fly up again on Tuesday morning for the lager cup. There could be more players fit by then, including Gallas and Lauren.

My feeling is that Wenger will play a team similar to that against Charlton, without the suspended Fabregas. So two major questions – who will replace Fab – Baptista or Flamini, and will Eboue get his place back? Only Arsene knows. So don’t forget to enter your prediction on the table.

Arsenal Squad: Lehmann, Eboue, Toure, Senderos, Clichy, Hleb, Gilberto, Flamini, Rosicky, Aliadiere, Henry, Almunia, Djourou, Hoyte, Denilson, van Persie, Baptista, Song.

Liverpool Squad: Reina, Finnan, Agger, Carragher, Riise, Gerrard, Luis Garcia, Aurelio, Alonso, Bellamy, Kuyt, Hyypia, Gonzalez, Crouch, Fowler, Pennant, Paletta, Martin, Dudek, Warnock