The knocks suffered by Emmanuel Eboue and Jeremie Aliadiere don't look so bad, and both are expected to be available for next week's second leg if not the FA Cup tie against Bolton Wanderers on Sunday, but the absence of the Belarussian midfielder will surely be felt.

What are the options? The most ready-made replacements for Hleb are both also out, Robin van Persie (for 3 months, probably and Freddie Ljungberg (for who knows how long - he's been out since December with a hamstring problem and the official injury news page says nothing about his prognosis).

What does that leave? One possibility is Theo Walcott who has been used almost exclusively as a right winger so far, even though his best position in the past (for Southampton and England) has been as a central striker. So far, the concensus seems to be that Theo isn't ready. That's not a criticism, he is young and inexperienced but clearly fast and skilful. He just doesn't look to have the nous and perhaps build to be able to use his speed and skill to full effect as yet. Coming on late as a sub he has turned a few games and that would seem to be the best we're going to get out of him for now. Incidentally, it was noticeable that he started having a bigger impact on Wednesday's game after Emmanuel Eboue had come on, and Theo moved to a central position at last.

Which brings us to another option on the right wing - using both Eboue and Justin Hoyte on that side of the pitch. It certainly seemed to work against Tottenham. They showed particularly good understanding for the second goal, when it was Eboue's movement infield from the touchline which created space for Hoyte's overlapping run, which was found by Cesc Fabregas's stunning chip.

There are several other possibilities... Cesc Fabregas and Mathieu Flamini have both played on the right side of midfield, and we dare say that Abou Diaby and Denilson could both do it. For a more attacking formation, and if playing 4-5-1, Jeremie Aliadiere may be the most natural alternative to van Persie.

So, we'll miss Hleb, but shouldn't be despondent. There are a whole load of options available to Le Boss, ranging from youthful to very-experienced, from defensive to attacking.

One option that is definitely not available, however, is Ray Parlour. Arsene Wenger has confirmed that the 33 year-old midfielder is training with the Arsenal, but that's as far as it goes. The Romford Pele has been released by Middlesbrough and is training with the Gunners to help him back to full fitness and thence to find a new club.