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Following yesterday's assessment that Thierry Henry only had a 30% chance
of playing in tomorrow's North London derby at White Hart Lane,
Arsene Wenger has today says that the Arsenal captain will definitely miss the match.
Le Boss admitted (as was clear at the time) that Henry was
rushed back for the win over
Sparta Prague 10 days ago, and although
at the time he seemed to suffer no ill-effects, and went on to play
in the Man City game last weekend,
Wenger now says that "it was a bit
too much for him". Henry seems to have suffered a setback with his
groin injury that kept him out for 6 weeks. The extent of the setback is
yet to be known, but Wenger is optimistic ,
"It is a minor setback. He could be back as quickly next Wednesday. He
could have played tomorrow if really pushed but I don't want to risk
a bigger set-back. It is early in the season." Given the healthy position in our
Champs League group it
seems likely that Henry will in fact be given the day off on Wednesday too when
Sparta come to Highbury.
The good news is that Arsenal have the full range of attacking options
aside from Henry. Jose Antonio Reyes and Freddie Ljungberg are back
from rib and hamstring injuries respectively, and Robin van Persie must
be in contention for a starting spot too after his excellent game
in the League Cup win over Sunderland
on Tuesday.
Sol Campbell, who returned from injury at the Stadium of Light, should
also return. That leaves just Henry, Alex Hleb (knee) and Ashley Cole (foot)
on the sidelines, with Alex and Ash expected to be out for another month at least.
Tottenham have not finished above Arsenal for 10 years, and haven't won a North London
derby since a 2-1 win at WHL
back in 1999: an ugly game in which Tottenham scored twice early on, with their only
2 meaningful attempts of the game, Freddie got sent off in bizarre
circumstances (a bit of play-acting by Justin Edinburgh leading to a melee in which
David Ginola got hit by a missile from the crowd, the Tottenham fans even, and the ref somehow concluded that Freddie,
some distance away, had head-butted him!), and Martin Keown got sent off
quite justifiably.
But given their unusually good start
to the season, the fact that they've only lost once at home in 8 months (and that was
to Chelsea), and new signings such as Jermaine Jenas whose free kick
earned a point against Man Utd last weekend, they're understandably convinced that
they have a chance this time. But they'll be missing their biggest signing of
the summer, Edgar Davids, who is suspended having picked up his 5th booking of the season
at Old Trafford. They also have long-term absentees in Wayne Routledge (foot),
Goran Bunjevcevic (foot), and Anthony Gardner (thigh). Noe Pamarot (knee) could
return to the side but is thought to be considered not quite match-fit enough for this one.
Up front, Jermaine Defoe and Mido are likely to keep Robbie Keane on the bench.
See our Arsenal vs Tottenham page for Spurs links, trivia, and links to stats pages including full history of derby matches.
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