Arsène Wenger may try to draft in Kolo Toure straight from
the African Nations Cup for Monday's night game against Blackburn
at Emirates Stadium.
The Arsenal manager admits his side is "down to the bare bones"
with 11 players out or doubtful. The roll call is as follows:
Emmanuel Eboue, Alex Song (both international duty), Johan Djourou
(groin), Philippe Senderos (knee) Robin van Persie (thigh), Abou
Diaby (calf), Mathieu Flamini (hamstring), Manuel Almunia (sick),
Denilson (hamstring) and Tomas Rosicky (hamstring). If Toure does
figure he is likely to be fatigued from a tough tournament in
Ghana. But, with Senderos considered a "major doubt", the manager
thinks it will be worth making some calls.
"I don't know," said Wenger at his pre-match press conference on
Friday. "Ivory Coast play on Saturday afternoon. I have not called
him yet but I will try to see if he can take a flight from Accra to
London. Otherwise it will be Gilberto, who is back, or Justin Hoyte
at centre half.
"Rosicky, van Persie and Djourou are out. Almunia is a doubt.
His thumb is OK but he is sick. We'll see tomorrow and Sunday about
him.
"On top of that we don’t have Eboue and Song. Also we lost Diaby
with a calf problem and we might have lost Flamini with a
hamstring. He had to move out from the French national team.
"Philippe Senderos came off injured in midweek with a medial
knee ligament and is a major doubt. He has played with it before
and we'll see on Monday. I don’t rule him out completely and he is
positive about it. Our medical team are a bit less. He wants to
test it out over the weekend.
"Diaby, in fairness, picked the injury up at Man City. We sent
him on international duty with information explaining that he was
injured and they did not play him.
"But overall we are very, very short and it is down to the bare
bones."
