The club (and the Premiership)'s leading scorer has missed the last 3 games with a groin injury. He's just 4 goals away from Ian Wright's Arsenal all-time scoring record of 185, but it looks certain now that he'll have to wait till next season before writing that particular line in the record books.

It's potentially good news for cup final opponents Manchester United, but they shouldn't crack open the bubbly yet because Jose Antonio Reyes and Robin van Persie seem to be hitting form just when it's needed, and Pires has scored more than them already.

Freddie Ljungberg is also a doubt, with a hip problem. He won't play against West Brom or against Liverpool next weekend, but that would still leave him 2 weeks to get ready for the final.

Wenger says, "Both players are working very hard on their fitness but are coming along slowly. It is difficult to make any prediction about when they will be back." I predict that at least one of them will start the cup final (there, wasn't so hard after all was it?). With Freddie as our second-highest scorer (jointly with Bobby), and with him being a player who seems to particularly enjoy playing United, having one of the pair of them available could make all the difference.

Rupe adds...
According to Football365, Henry has had scans which reveal the injury to be less bad than feared, and they claim he is "winning his fitness battle". How the timing of this story relates to Wenger's "less than 50%" assessment is not clear, but it's got to be good.

Meanwhile however, United's impressive new left back Gabriel Heinze is a doubt for the final after injuring his ankle against Newcastle at the weekend.