The latter, which is all about fourth place, is unlikely to get closer this weekend. Not because I'm pessimistic about our chances at Fratton Park tomorrow but because the other contenders don't have such hard games. Bolton are away at Middlesbrough on Sunday, and Boro may still be distracted by the FA Cup having drawn with Charlton in the quarter-final. We shouldn't expect too much from West Brom's visit to Tottenham on Monday either, although I can't help feeling that if anyone can, Kanu can.

Anyway, for the Portsmouth game tomorrow (kicking off at 5.15) we'll be without Sol Campbell and Jose_Antonion_Reyes. The official site says that the return to action has been delayed for both players. Wenger says that Sol is "100% there" mentally, but only 90% on the physical side. And, of course, the defence has been doing fine recently so there's simply no need to rush him. Sol will presumably not be playing against Juventus on Tuesday either (the Pompey game had been anticipated to be a try out for that).

Sol and Jose are joined by Freddie Ljungberg, who had a set-back to his calf problem in training in midweek. But he is training, and could be ok for the Juve game.

These 3 join Ashley Cole, Gael Clichy, Lauren, and Pascal Cygan on the injured list.

The team for tomorrow therefore practically picks itself: Lehmann, Eboue, Toure, Senderos, Flamini, Hleb, Gilberto, Cesc, Pires, Henry, and one of Emmanuel Adebayor or Robin van Persie. YOu never know though, someone could be rested for Tuesday. Like Alex Song or Abou Diaby coming in to the midfield. Note that Adebayor is not available for the Juventus game since he is cup-tied.

Pompey have defender Dejan Stefanovic returning from injury, but probably just to the subs bench. The same goes for Andy Griffin. Harry Redknapp is expected to stick with the line-up from the last game, which would mean Benjani Mwaruwari preferred to Todorov, the latter having scored as a sub against West Ham last weekend.

Good luck to everyone for this week, especially those that are going to the game on Tuesday. I'm gutted that I've had to pass my ticket on to someone else, but despite all my begging they refused to reschedule the solar eclipse. Please give Paddy the welcome that he deserves for all his fabulous years at the Arsenal, then send him packing back to Turin with an insurmountable deficit.