First, there's Gilberto, who was only rested on Saturday, and who is always badly missed when he's not there. Second, and crucially with Bergkamp not travelling, there's Robin van Persie, who missed Saturday with a minor thigh straing but was always expected back today.

And then there's Thierry Henry. We weren't expecting to see Henry travel to Prague for this game, but recent results have clearly tempted Arsene Wenger to take a gamble. He's admitted it's a gamble. I can't say I'm convinced that it's a gamble that needs to be taken. On the face of it, we're well placed with 6 points from 2 games. This is not a "must win" game. If Wenger's really prepared to gamble on Henry's fitness then it's easy to conclude that he's worried that the squad's confidence could be rocked by another loss. Maybe Thierry won't be used anyway. Reports suggest that the most likely thing is he'll start on the bench and only come on if needed. Hopefully, if things aren't looking too bad but we need to bring another striker on, someone like Lupoli might be given a chance. Wouldn't that be a safer gamble?

Of Henry, Wenger says, "He's physically fit and has worked hard but may be rusty in decision making. Ideally I would play him for half an hour against Sparta and then against City."

Le Boss has also been talking about his attitude to the cups, and suggesting that our Champs League ambitions have at times suffered because of our FA Cup success. One hopes that he's not saying he doesn't want to do well in the latter, but it's possible that it's a prelude to going even further down the reserves road in the FA Cup than we've done in recent years. Sacrificing cups for Europe is one thing, what we don't want to hear is any talk of sacrificing the league. Chelsea may be running away with it this year, and there's little harm in accepting that. But we have to keep our sights on, at the very least, the top 4.

The Arsenal players that are still injured are Ashley Cole, Sol Campbell, Alex_Hleb:, and Freddie Ljungberg.

I've been told that Sky Sports News are reporting that, in the absence of obvious choices such as Henry, Bergkamp, and Campbell, the captain's armband will tonight be worn by Gilberto.

Sparta Prague is a name one associates with success, but they have been in disarray of late. They have at least got a manager now in Stanislas Griga. He has no Champs League experience but he was something of a fans' favourite as a player and so his arrival could give the side a much-needed boost, seemed to be that way at the weekend as they won his first game 5-2. Former boss Jaroslav Hrebika was sacked after a dreadful start to the season, and former Man Utd star Karel Poborsky has gone out on loan to second division side Ceske Budejovice. Striker Libor Dosek is a doubt havign missed Saturday's game with a stomach bug. Midfielder Tomas Sivok is out long-term.