Thanks to the wonderful people at Sky, with the fixture change we have been given a very tough Xmas period. MON has admitted as much by hinting players will be rested, for example you can not imagine Downing starting against both Arsenal and Liverpool.

So given Heskey’s injury is not as bad as feared but Carew scored against Stoke then trying to pick the team that starts against Liverpool does require some guesswork and therefore I am guessing the same team that started against Stoke.

We go to the Emirates on Sunday in very good form, very high in confidence and the knowledge we remain unbeaten in the three previous visits. Also we have the knowledge to come away unbeaten is a very good result and only further strengthens our claims to a top 4 finish. A win of course will mean we have beaten the ‘sky 4’ teams before the season reaches the New Year, that is a serious intent of a title challenge.

Arsenal at the moment are a bit of a curates egg of a team, when they are good they are easily the best in the league but like against Hull and despite the win they showed all their weakness’s which we can exploit and benefit from. Gabby in particular will be looking forward to facing Gallas again !

These two games may well shape the season as to how serious we are in a sustained challenge for the top 4 and beyond, with a stronger squad and the likes of Dunne on board I expect us to show the resolve we need.

Hopefully a Merry Xmas to us all