Squad Selector

GO ON then. You try and predict his team for Arsenal.

I'll have a go. But this ain't like last season where only a broken limb would mean a change to the team.

Brad Friedel in goal. No problems there. After a shaky start he has more than come to the fore in recent games.

Now the problems start. Luke Young and Carlos Cuellar? Or Cuellar and Curtis Davies?

I'll plump for the latter just now.

Luke Young has started to find his feet, but crucially only returned to training today. And can you really send out a message to Davies that he is good enough to skipper the side in Prague, but no longer in the first team?

I think that would be a hammer blow. Not than the manager has ever shirked from big decisions in the past (Unlike the last one who dropped Peter Crouch and then Gabby Agbonlhaor whenever Juan Pablo Angel was fit).

It seems simpler to just allow Young an extra few days to get back into the groove and play Cuellar on the right.

Martin Laursen. Definitely. Every time.

Now here's another: Nicky Shorey or Gareth Barry. Shorey is taking his time to adjust to Martin O'Neill's way of playing. He has done okay so far, but not at the price that was paid last summer.

Barry is without doubt the better left-back, but taking him out of midfield would leave a gaping hole- as we saw against Portsmouth.

But that is precisely what I would do tomorrow. Because Villa need energy and lots of it at The Emirates.

Midfield now. Nigel Reo-Coker, Stiliyan Petrov, Steve Sidwell and Ashley Young would be my picks for Arsenal- that is if John Carew has no reaction overnight to his first training stint today.

Otherwise James Milner would come in.

The front two? Well, for the first time in 20 years they pick themselves. It's not that Carew and Agbonlahor have formed an electric partnership.

They are certainly no Withe and Shaw. It's not that they gel together like tea and biscuits.

But there's no one else.

There's less competition up front at Villa than at any time since managers could pick from more than one substitute. And even then Villa had David Geddis.

What about Marlon Harewood, I hear you say? Quite.

It'll be Harewood out to whoever can dare take him in January. And two strikers in. Roque Santa Cruz? Don't rule it out. Amir Zaki? Emile Heskey? Watch this space.

Michael Owen? Can't see it.

But come January 10 and the home derby with West Brom and O'Neill should have some real selection issues to deal with.

Can Villa bring Arsenal back down to earth? Possibly.

Their counter-attacking football will certainly come to the fore. And the Gunners will be ever so vulnerable to set-plays, especially if Carew makes it.

But the smart money will still be on Arsenal making it 15 years and more since Villa's last league win on their patch.

November 1993 has so much to answer for.