Lee: Gunners will not fire blanks

Forwards Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie, goalkeeper Manuel Almunia and defenders Gael Clichy, William Gallas and Johan Djourou have all been ruled out with injury. And after a tough FA Cup semi-final defeat to Chelsea at Wembley on Saturday there was a suggestion manager Arsene Wenger may look to rest more of his stars with the club also into the last four of the Champions League.

Lee, however, dismissed the notion the Gunners would be an easy prospect, saying; "Do they have a weakened team? We've seen lots of different rotations this season and they've all produced the goods."

He added: "They'll be well organised and prior to Saturday's defeat against Chelsea they hadn't lost in 18. They won't be weak in any shape or form.

"Whichever team they put out we know it will be a very difficult task. We know every game, every point, has its own importance and the lads are very focused, very concentrated and have trained hard."

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard is likely to be out for another week with a groin problem which has sidelined him for the last two games.

But Lee said the team had learned to cope without their inspirational midfielder and he was confident they could maintain their five-match winning run in the league.

"Whoever we put on that park will be our best team. Obviously if you are missing your star players it is going to be a big miss but all credit to these lads," he added.

"We are a strong squad and we are all working together. They have stuck to it this year and the mere fact we are talking about the title shows the improvement this club has embarked upon this year.

"It is six games that we need to get maximum points out of and then we will see what happens. We want to be a threat to everyone and at this moment in time we are a threat to everyone. And as long as other people keep looking over their shoulder at us we know we are there or thereabouts."