The game in hand, the  snow, the polls, the closest title race in years, all are conspiring so that this is a Wednesday match that pretty much everyone is watching.

Unless you live in a cave, or Bolton, you probably already know all of the headlines: “Owen Coyle to take over Bolton,” “Arsenal to go within one point of Chelsea with a win today,” “Bolton to sell Gary Cahill to fund Owen Coyle transfer kitty,” and “Howard Webb to Instruct Kevin Cyrill Davies to Elbow Arsenal Players in the Head.”

You probably already know that stuff, so there’s no reason to re-hash it all. What I will hash, is the fact that yes, Howard Webb is today’s referee, Arsenal’s injury news, and the head-to-head records of these two clubs over the last few years.

First off, the old story is that Bolton are Arsenal’s “hoodoo” team. They like to get stuck in and we wilt like precious Alsacian mountain lilies. Except that hasn’t been true since 2006, back when Anelka scored a brace on Arsenal at Notlob. In fact, Bolton haven’t beaten Arsenal at home since 1994, when Owen Coyle (of all people) started and they managed a 3-1 win at the old Highbury.

Don’t get me wrong, Bolton still get stuck in, Kevin Davies alone has been booked 9 times against Arsenal, which by my calculations is about 9 times short of the number he probably should have gotten. So I fully expect Kevin Davies to put in numerous cheap elbows, a few stamps, some filthy tackles, his patented “fally downy draw a foul bullshit,” and tons of climbing on Arsenal defenders to win headers and then hold his hands up as if to say “what? me?” Former Arsenal student Fabrice Muamba will also try to boss the midfield, throwing his weight around and getting a yellow when needed.

They will be especially keen to impress new boss and former Bolton player, Owen Coyle so I expect the full argy bargy today: two slices of ham-fisted dirty cheating, Bolton players going over easy, with a side of toast-ed ankles, and erm, beans of something or another. And they have the perfect referee to let them do it too; Howard Webb.

Webb has calmed a bit on Arsenal since Adebayor left, but the scars of his refereeing past still shine brightly. Perhaps his most infamous display was when he let Chelsea kick a bunch of school children off the pitch in the Carling Cup final. That’s the one where he first sent Adebayor off for an “infraction” by Eboue which was really a Chelsea player feigning injury.

Howard Webb, like Mark Crapenburg, likes to give teams like Bolton the advantage in physical play. Let’s hope the Arsenal boys are on their toes and no one gets hurt by a rash Davies challenge. Gods know we don’t need any more injuries.

Speaking of injuries, the good news is that Arsenal will have Arshavin and Denilson back for this match. Arshavin has been deputizing well as our 5’4″ Center Forward though the boss is admitting that this is temporary duty and unless Bendtner gets his ass fit, Arsenal will be buying a big man to lead the line. Meanwhile Wenger has sorted out the Song spot and Denilson gets his baptism by fire today against a Bolton midfield and front line who will seriously test him.

That’s not to say that Arsenal won’t be up for the fight. Today’s match is this young team’s chance to announce their title credentials and I expect that we will see a very determined Arsenal side. In fact, given the snow and the cancellations of other matches, this is the only game today.  So, I expect a lot of folks around the world will be watching to see if Arsenal have the right stuff to win the league.

Do we? I think so, now go out there and prove us Gooners right.

UP THE ARSE!