Arsenal v Manu Preview

Arsenal facing injury crisis

Theo Walcott and William Gallas are rated 50-50 for Arsenal's critical Premier League clash with Man United on Saturday.
Walcott is struggling with a shoulder injury while Gallas is doubtful with a hamstring problem and a decision on both players will be made in the next 24 hours.

"We will not know about Walcott and Gallas before tomorrow afternoon. It is 50:50 for both," boss Arsene Wenger told Arsenal TV Online today.

Mikael Silvestre broke his nose in Wednesday night's goalless Champions League draw with Fenerbahce and Wenger must decide whether to gamble on the 31-year-old defender against his former club.

"Mikael has a broken nose with an open wound on the side," said Wenger.

"Basically he should be capable of playing. But in the next 48 hours I will have to decide what we do.

"You cannot rule him out and I feel he can play. But I have to decide whether I go for the gamble or not."

Bacary Sagna remains a worry, but in a welcome piece of positive news in an otherwise gloomy medical bulletin Manuel Almunia has recovered from the sickness that forced him out against Fenerbahce.

"Almunia was back in training today so he will be available," said Wenger.

"As for Sagna, there was a gamble on him that I did not want to take last night.

"We could not take it today in training either. He still needed to be out of impact work.

"I think he should be OK for Saturday but there is still a slight concern."

Emmanuel Adebayor (ankle), Emmanuel Eboue (knee) and Robin van Persie (suspension) are definitely out of the clash with United.

Arsenal are suffering from both a confidence and injury crisis while Manchester United are a team on a rampage.

Even though the Gunners are defending an unbeaten record at the Emirates Stadium against the other 'Big Four' sides, United are favourites to go away with all three points. And this certainly is reflected by what most of the ESS football pundits predicted for this game:

Arsenal vs Man Utd:

Shebby Singh: 1-2

PJ Roberts: 1-1

Jamie Reeves: 0-2

Comment: Arsenal have serious problems in terms of fitness, availability, confidence and form, so it's a terrible time for them to be playing Man U. There is no air of invincibility at The Emirates, so United will go there believing that a draw would not be a good result, they have to go for the win. Disappointing result against Celtic, but the side that lines up on Saturday will be very different and there are goals from all sources in this team. Provided Ferdinand keeps his concentration, they should win quite comfortably.

Steve McMahon: 0-2

Comment: Arsenal have no chance in this game as they are suffering from injuries, suspensions and a lack of confidence after a recent run of poor results. I reckon Manchester United with their array of match-winners will have too much firepower for the Gunners to handle. They just have too much quality in the whole team. While most teams will try to defend against United, I don’t think Arsenal are equipped to defend. They only know how to play one way and that will cost them three points this weekend.

Paul Masefield: 1-1