Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is looking to Mikael
Silvestre to lead an inexperienced defence in the intimidating
atmosphere of Fenerbahce's Sukru Saracoglu stadium on
Tuesday.
Injuries have robbed the Gunners of three first-choice players
in William Gallas, Kolo Toure and Bacary Sagna. That means
Tuesday's set up at the back is likely to include Silvestre, in
only his second appearance since a summer move from Manchester
United, alongside Emmanuel Eboue, Alex Song and Gael Clichy.
It was the defence which finished the 3-1 victory over Everton
at the weekend after Toure went off with a shoulder ligament
problem. Goalkeeper Manuel Almunia will captain the side in the
absence of Gallas and Toure but Silvestre, who with 70 Champions
League appearances has 15 more than his three defensive colleagues
put together, is the man Wenger will look to hold things
together.
"I am happy to have him. He is the one who can lead the defence
and the team," said the manager of the 31-year-old Frenchman. "He
has experience. I believe he has played on every single pitch in
Europe. "He is a very professional guy and I am confident he will
be the guide of the back four tomorrow."
On the injury problems, Wenger said: "We cannot afford to lose
any more defenders, that is for sure. "Johan Djourou has come back
from injury but we will start with the defence that finished the
game against Everton."
Wenger knows all his team, not just the defence, will have to be
on top of their game at a ground where the hosts have not been
beaten in 15 European matches. And before their goalless draw with
Dynamo Kiev in their last game there they had won eight in
succession.
However, they have begun this season poorly under Spain's
European Championship-winning coach Luis Aragones and are only 10th
in the Turkish Super Lig and bottom of Group G in the Champions
League with just one point. But that does not mean Wenger will be
under-estimating a team which reached the quarter-finals last
season and beat Chelsea 2-1 in the home leg before losing at
Stamford Bridge.
"Fenerbahce are a team who have not had the best of starts in
the league and Champions League but they have quality," said the
Arsenal boss, who is 59 on Wednesday.
"Looking at their team they have got class players in many
positions, that is why I believe it is a big challenge for us. "The
team has a lot of offensive potential, Daniel Guiza and Semih
Senturk; they have a lot of players who are very dangerous going
forward and so you have to defend well against them.
Wenger will also come face-to-face with Aragones, who as Spain
coach in 2004 was fined £2,000 for his infamous racist remarks to
Jose Antonio Reyes about then Arsenal striker Thierry Henry.
However, the Frenchman said he had forgiven his opposite number
and moved on from the incident. "I have spoken to him since then.
It was an incident on the pitch inside the training session where
you can sometimes go overboard," he said.
"Having spoken to many players everybody came out for him saying
he was not a racist so, of course, I have forgiven him."
