Arsenal face injury crisis ahead of Porto clash (From Haringey Independent)

Arsenal face injury crisis ahead of Porto clash

4:42pm Wednesday 17th February 2010 in

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ARSENAL will be without five key players for the first leg of their Champions League last 16 clash against Porto tonight.

Andrey Arshavin, Alex Song, William Gallas, Manuel Almunia and Eduardo have all been ruled out of the game, which will be held in Portugal, with the second leg to be played at Emirates Stadium in a fortnight.

Sol Campbell looks set to step to partner Thomas Vermaelen, who revealed this week that he is still playing through the pain barrier since injuring his leg in last month's goalless draw against Aston Villa.

Lukasz Fabianski will take up position between the sticks for the Gunners, while Denilson is likely to step in for Song in midfield after being dropped for the victory over Liverpool last week.

Nicklas Bendtner will lead the line for Arsene Wenger's team and, in the absence of Arshavin and Eduardo, could be joined by Samir Nasri and Theo Walcott, although Emmanuel Eboue is also pushing for a starting berth after several impressive cameo appearances in recent weeks.