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According to the official injury news page,
Mathieu Flamini could return for the trip to Manchester City tomorrow. His hamstring problem suffered 8 minures into the second leg
against Villarreal last week turned out to be less severe than first feared, but
we weren't expecting him back quite this quickly, and there has to be a good chance that he'll be given a few more days. Given that Ashley Cole
and Gael Clichy are both playing themselves into match-fitness in preparation for the Champs League final, perhaps
Flamini wouldn't be used at left back anyway. But now that Abou Diaby is
out for the season, it might
be worth giving Matty a game or two in midfield where he'll now be needed as cover.
Gilberto was ruled out of the Sunderland game on Monday
with an ankle injury. But he could return tomorrow, and the same goes for
Alexander Hleb (knee), Jose Antonio Reyes (wisdom tooth extraction) and
Philippe Senderos (knee).
We're now in a very interesting situation regarding team selection. Several potentially
half-fit but key players, who you'd want to make sure got plenty of playing time if
you were sure they were ready for it, but would want to protect by resting them if
there's any doubt. What should be the priority? For many fans, if there's any
chance at all of catching Tottenham then it must be tried 100%. Not just for
the sake of champions league football next year but also because we've got so
used to finishing above our North London neighbours. But I suspect that, as far as
Arsene Wenger's concerned, the Champs League final is the clear priority. If we're
still in with a shout of 4th place on Sunday then Wigan may well face our strongest team,
because they'll have 10 days to recover for the final. But he'll want as few
of the squad as possible to have to play twice in 4 days, so the changes could be rung tomorrow.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Thierry Henry rested again, with
Adebayor and van Persie (or even Bergkamp) up front. Alex Song and Johan Djourou must
be likely candidates too.
Along with Diaby, Lauren and Pascal Cygan are sidelined for the rest of the season.
Theo Walcott, who's not been used yet but could still earn his debut in one of these
last 2 league matches if Wenger decides to go all out for rotation, suffered a
minor injury playing for the reserves last Thursday. But he's expected to be
available again this week.
City have a doubt over on-loan Dutchman Kiki Musampa. But Sun Jihai, who
has just signed a new 2-year contract, could return after a goal-scoring
reserve team comeback against Liverpool last night. Antoine Sibierski,
Sylvain Distin and David Sommeil had all suffered minor problems after
the game against Fulham at the weekend, but are said to have
responded well to treatment and to be likely to be able to face the
Gunners in Eastlands' last game of the season. |
