Campbell to fight for place
Sol Campbell has been warned he may be forced to wait even longer for a return to the Arsenal side – and is not assured of an FA Cup final place.
The 30-year-old has not played since February 1, when he injured his ankle against Manchester United, but returned to the first-team squad for last week’s game at Chelsea.
He was nevertheless kept on the bench at Stamford Bridge and then at Tottenham, with Wenger retaining his faith in Philippe Senderos and Kolo Toure.
The England defender may now have to continue sitting on the sidelines at West Brom on Monday, with Arsenal having let in just two goals in their past 11 games.
Wenger revealed: “We always miss Sol but you have to say the defence is doing well and maybe he will have to wait a little bit [longer] for an opportunity.
“I have missed him for a long time, now he’s available and he’s working very hard in training and is getting fit.
“We just have to decide whether to throw him in now or not. But then you would have to throw one player out.”
Switzerland international Senderos has been a revelation in the past couple of months and has not conceded a single goal in his past 11 games for club and country.
Wenger has therefore not decided for certain Campbell must be recalled in time for the FA Cup final against Manchester United on May 21.
“I don’t think like that. No matter whether it’s Manchester United in the FA Cup final, we played with that defence at home to Bayern Munich and didn’t concede a goal,” he said.
“That defence also played against Chelsea and didn’t concede a goal. You have to accept that the defence is doing well at the moment and it’s a fair competition going on.”
Thierry Henry has, meanwhile, been rated as having just a 30% chance of being fit to face United in Cardiff due to a groin injury, while Freddie Ljungberg is rated 50-50 with a hip problem.
Wenger added: “Thierry is not in training and he’s not played for three weeks. We are three weeks away from the final and we are short of time.
“I would be tempted [to send him on holiday early] if he didn’t get better in the next week, but he looks as though he is improving every day.
“Freddie is 50-50 for the cup final. He will not be available at West Brom or next weekend against Liverpool, so he will be very short as well.”
Mathieu Flamini at least returns to the squad after injury for Monday’s game at The Hawthorns, but Gael Clichy is still sidelined.
