Wenger eager to complete domestic
set
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger would be delighted to win the Carling
Cup as it is the only trophy he has yet to get his hands on in
England.
The Frenchman has long used the competition as a way to give
rarely-used fringe men and up-and-coming youngsters experience at
first-team level.
And, although that will still be the case at West Brom tonight,
Wenger made it clear he wanted to better last season's run in the
competition, which went as far as the semi-finals where they were
narrowly pipped by Wigan.
He said: 'We want to qualify in the Carling Cup and we want to go
as far as we can. It is a competition I have never won in England
despite having been here for 10 years.'
The Baggies will approach the game with plenty of confidence having
comprehensively beaten local rivals Wolves on Sunday in new manager
Tony Mowbray's first game in charge.
But the side Wenger has chosen already will feature at least three
players who went to the World Cup in June - Theo Walcott, Emmanuel
Adebayor and Philippe Senderos.
The Gunners boss said: 'You will see Walcott, Adebayor and all the
players who were on the bench against Reading. And also the players
I left behind like Senderos, Denilson and Jeremie Aliadiere will
play.
'Manuel Almunia will play in goal, Gael Clichy will play of course
and Johan Djourou might play again but I don't know yet.'
Senderos has not played a first-team game since dislocating a
shoulder during the World Cup when he was hurt during Switzerland's
1-1 draw with South Korea.
Wenger said: 'He needs games. He has played three (reserve) games
now and Clichy is exactly the same. I almost started him against
Reading on Sunday but we do not want to rush people back. But,
tonight, they will both play.'
A lengthy injury list is rapidly reducing, with hamstring victim
Julio Baptista on course to be the next player to return ahead of
Lauren, who had knee surgery at the start of the year, and Abou
Diaby, who suffered a broken ankle against Sunderland last
season.
Wenger said: 'Lauren won't be ready for another four or five weeks
and Diaby won't be back until January. Baptista is two weeks away
as well.'