Arsene Wenger's chances of fielding captain Cesc Fabregas against Porto on Tuesday night appear to be rapidly receding following the news that the midfielder did not train with the Arsenal team on Monday.

Cesc Fabregas was substituted soon after scoring against Burnley

Fabregas suffered a hamstring injury in Saturday's 3-1 defeat of Burnley and was substituted in the first half at Emirates Stadium, soon after scoring his 17th goal in all competitions this season for Arsenal.

The Gunners lost Fabregas to a hamstring injury between December 27 and January 17 after he aggravated a previous injury in a 3-0 win over Aston Villa and it appears unlikely that Wenger will take a risk with the Spaniard if he was unable to train on Monday.

However, Arsenal are trailing 2-1 from the first leg in Portugal and Wenger said at the weekend he would consider playing Fabregas despite his injury concern.

"I'm ready to take the gamble," Wenger said. "But it depends how big the gamble is. If it is more than a 50% chance his hamstring goes [on the night] then I will not take it.

"You look at the numbers of Fabregas this season and it is amazing - 14 goals, 15 assists. He's a fantastic player, with fantastic attitude and commitment. And what people forget an unbelievable work-rate too.

"He is everywhere and this season he has made a big step forward, massive. It was interesting to see that although he has already played at 16 but, at 22, he has still matured."

Arsenal will have Alex Song at their disposal as his suspension is limited to domestic football, with Denilson and Abou Diaby likely to accompany him in midfield.

Sol Campbell has trained despite missing Saturday's game due to a groin problem and the defender, who scored Arsenal's goal in the first leg, could replace Mikael Silvestre

Post Reply

Posted: at 8-03-2010 01:50 PM (14 years ago) | Hero

sorri

Posted: at 2-04-2016 08:16 PM (8 years ago) | Hero

Reply: