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There's some fantastic news for Arsenal ahead of tonight's FA Cup replay
at Bolton Wanderers (kick-off 8.05, live on BBC1).
For starters, Johan Djourou's "nasty bang on the nose" (as described on
the official injury news
page), suffered during the amazing win over Wigan on
Sunday, turns out not to be a break. He's fine, and available to face
the Trotters if necessary. With Philippe Senderos having been
suspended on Sunday it's possible that he'll play instead. Arsene Wenger may
even choose to play them both and give Kolo Toure a rest.
And that's just for starters. Alexander Hleb has recovered from his
hamstring injury and is also in the squad. Last we'd heard was that he
was due back in training this week, so to hear that he's in a squad
so soon is wonderful. But of course, there's a good chance he'll start on the bench.
Hey, but that's not all. The same is true of Freddie Ljungberg whose
hamstring has kept him out for rather longer. It'll be very interesting
to see if Le Boss sticks with Theo Walcott or decides to bolster the right
wing with Alex or Freddie. Given that they're both back, he may well
decide to risk one of them, although we know that he's been very wary
of bringing people back too early since it went so wrong for
Ashley Cole when Wenger was forced to bring him off the bench earlier than planned
(in a 7-0 win over Boro
at the start of last year, and it led to an injury relapse.
The bad news is in central midfield where Sunday's hero Matthieu Flamini is ruled
out with an ankle problem. There have been suggestions that Cesc Fabregas is
also out, because of the knock to his knee which we noticed early in
Sunday's game but which didn't seem to be bothering him later on. But
the official injury news page says nothign about him so perhaps he's ok.
If both Cesc and Matty were unavailable, perhaps Abou Diaby would
start alongside Gilberto. Denilson's a possibility too but a long shot.
As for the rest of the team, Justin Hoyte plays because Emmanuel Eboue hasn't shaken off his
ankle injury, and Gael Clichy on the other side of defence. Manuel Almunia will
presumably continue to be our domestic cup keeper.
Up front Thierry Henry is rested, according to the official site's
match preview.
So it will probably be two from Emmanuel Adebayor, Julio Baptista,
and Jeremie Aliadiere. I'd have thought the first two of those, but
perhaps with Adebayor on his own at the front of a 4-5-1.
William Gallas is still estimated at 2-3 weeks from playing, but
Wenger says he "would not like to put any set time on it".
Bolton have some significant doubts for tomorrow with Abdoulaye Meite and Gary Speed
having calf and dead leg problems suffered in Sunday's league win
over Fulham. Kevin Davis (ankle) and Abdoulaye Faye (recovering
from an abcess op) are both definitely out.
But Ivan Campo has recovered from a virus and with Nicolas Anelka,
Nolan, Diouf, Perdersen and Giannocopoulos on the pitch you know
it's going to be a tough one.
The replay will go to extra time and penalties if necessary, and
the winners play at home in the quarter-final on Saturday lunchtime (also live on
BBC1), against Blackburn Rovers. |