Kieran Gibbs can weather the ‘El Nino’ storm

It was a noticeable tactic during Saturday's FA Cup semi-final at Wembley that Drogba played in between Mikael Silvestre and Kieran Gibbs to expose the latter's lack of aerial prowess.

The plan nearly bore fruit after just four minutes when Lukasz Fabianski, Silvestre and Gibbs contrived to gift the Ivory Coast forward a goal, only for the latter to clear the ball off the line.

Drogba eventually got his reward to score the winner and as a forward with a plethora of similar qualities, Torres must have been rubbing his handsin glee.

Gibbs, just 19, has shown great maturity in handling his sudden elevation to the first team after Gael Clichy's back injury and must learn from his mistakes at Wembley in the cauldron of Anfield and nullify the threat El Nino' represents.

"It's what I've been waiting for and hopefully it'll add to my experience because I'm still learning, of course," said Gibbs. "I don't know about the pressure really — I think that because there are so many games right now, you just have to adapt really quickly between each one and try to focus on the 90 minutes directly ahead of you.

"I've grown closer to the first team and I feel I've got stronger as the last 12 months have gone on, as I've watched games, become more involved in them and gained more experience.

"Walking through the first-team entrance at the training ground feels a little different too, it's an exciting feeling and it's good to feel near to that side of things. Small things like that are good but I still know where I came from and feel part of both sides."

Critics have often pointed to Arsenal's lack of homegrown talent but Clichy's injury has propelled Gibbs to the top of a list of British young guns that includes Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere.

Theo Walcott moved to north London as a 16-year-old and this season would be considered more of a breakthrough were it not for a four-month absence with a shoulder injury.

His early season performances for club and country provided a fine example to the other youngsters at the club and, despite being only 20 years old, the winger revealed he is acting as a father figure to Gibbs and the like.

"It's nice to see the English players at the club coming through and it just shows the development side is doing very well," said the winger.

"It's great to see Kieran coming through, Jack Wilshere is in the dressing room and we have got young Aaron as well. There are plenty of British young players coming through. They are getting the chance to play in the big games, they will learn from the experience like I did when I was young.

"Plus if they have any questions they want to ask me of what I learned back then. It seems like I have been around for a long time and I am like an old man in the dressing room to them.

"I will look after them and they will look after me — that's the amount of respect we have got for each other."

That respect is born partly out of the self-belief fostered by their manager. Critics would argue Arsene Wenger has backed his young players to the point of myopia at times, but his policy of blooding the next generation as early as possible has its own advantages when an injury crisis hits.

"That's where you see you are happy that you play these boys in the Carling Cup because they've played in games," said the Frenchman. "I will trust Gibbs because he is an intelligent boy."

Although Wenger suggested rather mischievously yesterday that the League title was not out of reach, the reality is that Arsenal occupy the rare position of going to Anfield with little to play for beyond pride.

Lying seven points ahead of Aston Villa but six behind Chelsea, the Gunners are essentially marooned in fourth place with the upcoming Champions League semi-final against Manchester United the priority.

Cesc Fabregas, though, will hope for a better outing than December's 1-1 draw at Emirates Stadium, where Xabi Alonso's crunching tackle prompted a near four-month period on the sidelines through injury.

For Liverpool, the reward of toppling Manchester United for 24 hours at least provides palpable motivation but Arsenal are always dangerous when written off and with nothing to lose.

The loss of talismanic skipper Steven Gerrard to a groin injury is always a huge blow to Rafa Benitez's side but their attacking fluidity appeared uninterrupted in his absence when valiantly drawing 4-4 at Chelsea in last week's Champions League exit.

Bereft of Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie, Arsenal may struggle to breach a defence that has kept 10 clean sheets in 16 home League games, with the not-yet-convincing Nicklas Bendtner set to lead the line.

And while a stand-in forward faces a world class defence, it is the reverse situation at the other end of the pitch that gives Arsenal the biggest cause for concern tonight.