No time for losing ourselves in a metaphorical cave of melancholy made by a weekend derby defeat, as it’s bottom of the league Leicester who make their way to The Emirates this evening.

It’s a game that you’d say should be the perfect type of match for us to play in such quick succession after seeing the team put on such a dismal display up the road on Saturday. Leicester seem in disarray; bottom of the league and with a manager who probably doesn’t know whether he’s coming, going or strangling.

But this is The Arsenal here. Rarely is life simple and whilst you’d think we should have enough to swat aside Leicester with consummate ease, it would not be too far fetched to see Leicester arrive with a game plan to frustrate us all evening. I’m expecting a deep-lying defensive side looking for a point and with that in mind, the manager has some decisions to make on what he does with his first XI. I’d say particularly when it comes to the attack-minded players.

It would be easy to suggest that some rotation of Giroud, Özil and Welbeck could take place, but with the promise of a campsite of Foxes on the edge of their own box I do wonder if Arsène needs to look at technical ability rather than rotating on physical grounds.

Take Theo, for example. A pacey player who can be a dynamo against a team with a high line. Give Theo plenty of grass to run into and he can punish teams by playing off the shoulders of the last defender. But when the last defender plays so deep that the ‘keeper can act as an auxiliary sweeper, his pace is negated somewhat. To some extent, Welbeck is the same, as there are technically better players in the team than the two England Internationals. That’s why I’d choose Giroud, Özil and Alexis as the key forward players. Behind them, the zip and energy of Rosicky must be considered alongside Santi, whilst Coquelin completes the midfield.

Defensively Arsène could probably afford to shuffle his pack for the first time this season and it not be through enforced changes. Leicester will not have as much going forward and I’d expect a quiet evening, so I’d be tempted to give Gabriel a go. Perhaps even Chambers at right back too, although Bellerin would be a better option in terms of getting forward. I’m not sure who would partner Gabriel, but you’d expect Monreal and Ooooooospina! to keep their places.

The first 15 minutes will effectively dictate the manner of this game. Start like we did against Brighton and Aston Villa and you’d expect it to be a rout. If it gets to halftime and we’ve seen no Arsenal goals, there will be some nerves, but even then you’d expect us to win. It just wouldn’t be a comfortable evening. That’s if Leicester don’t score, of course.

Nigel Pearson will probably want to load his team with a couple of pacey players, so I wonder if Vardy and Judd Schlupp (is that the kids name?) will be used as counter attacking outlets, because they are both quite quick players. I haven’t seen anything of this Krameric chap (again, might need to check that name, because I’m not inclined to bother wasting my data charges on him), but if he’s still acclimatising to the league there will be an element of the unknown that we’ll have to watch out for.

This is an opportunity we can’t afford to miss. I don’t fancy the Spuds getting a win tonight (famous last words, eh?), which means a victory on our own turf effectively renders their NLD win irrelevant, so I’m hoping for two positive results come 10pm tonight. I said it in the aftermath and I’ll reiterate again this morning; we have an opportunity to win five on the bounce in the league and, if we start tonight, then we’ll put ourselves back on track. Get yourself back on that horse and in the saddle n’all that.

But we have to do the business. We have to be professional and we have to win tonight.

Come on you reds.