Boring old 4-5-1 for me. We don't need lines of defence (Like a 4-2-3-1) as they have no real dribblers who'll beat a man, we need to be more wary of their movement. To combat that I'd play a very narrow back four leaving no gaps for Malouda/Kalou to exploit between the two CBs. Try to frustrate them early on, will be a strange feeling for them.
Not sure about Zab, while he'd probably do a job on Anelka I doubt he could deal with Kalou for the whole game and would end up needing to come off (Or be sent off) at some point. Then again we have no real options. Obviously Micah on the other side, been immense as of late and a big help with balls into the box. Toure and Kompany goes without saying.
Love the man but I feel Barry is the one to miss out, we need energy all over the field and unfortunately I don't think he has it. The only other game he would miss would be Arsenal, and Villa/Brum away. So it's no slight on the man, just think this game will pass him by too easily. Instead I'd have Milner lining up against Essien, De Jong against Lampard and Toure to cause Mikel the problems.
On the wings it's a delicate balance, without doubt Johnson needs to be lining up against Ferreira. If that doesn't happen I'll be nigh on devastated; by far their weakest link. Then regretfully Tevez alone up front. Importantly I think SWP wide right, he's always done well against Cole and we could do with his pace on the counter. In the later stages of the game I'd bring Silva on, I'd be quite happy seeing the game to 20 minutes to go before we really "have a go" but that doesn't mean we can't counter attack with pace. They've looked very vulnerable to this in the past.
