Arsenal News 24/7Writer: Nick Simmonett 
Date:Friday December 1 2006
Time: 3:12PM
UK time is: 15:17:58
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Henry Is a Pain In The Neck
Thierry Henry has been ruled out of the North London Derby tomorrow with a pain in the neck. The skipper missed the defeat at Bolton with the same injury. He did manage to play against Fulham in the week but looked to still be suffering.
When speaking to Sky Sports Wenger said: 'The bad news is he is not fit, but the good news is we are focused on winning the game.
'I think it is a good time (to play Tottenham) as we want to bounce back from our two disappointments and win our game.'
Despite recent criticism, Wenger says that his young side are already a strong team: 'I feel I have a strong team, it is right that they are young and I believe in them.
'They will get there as they are strong players and will develop very quickly.
'I know exactly what I want to achieve with them and I will get to where I want to go.
'I am convinced we are on the right track and this will show through.'
Robin Van Persie or Manu Adebayor could start up front alone in Henry`s absence.
Don`t forget to catch Tim Stillman`s match review/rant after the game!
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Your Comments
is getting closer, im excited by this, says on arsenal.com ljungberg could start and baptista is back in the squad. I think arsene should play a 4-5-1, look a bit more solid in kidfeild.
hazzagooner
not having henry for this one ain't such a bad thing, cuz we can beat that small club without him tomm, but we need titi back for next sunday against chelsea..
luckys_10
Stick to 4-4-2 and play Baptista up front with VP.
Limpar11
i think wenger will go with 4-4-2 limpar, spurs ain't a team that can battle like bolton, they'll try to play football like us, and that will only work to our advantage, and i really dun see them getting anything out of this game, they are pathetic away from home, and we have too much quality in our team to not beat a midtable team like them..
luckys_10
I think we need to stick with 4-5-1 in Europe, but in the league go back to 4-4-2. Also on the point that George Graham made today, I have to agree with him to a point that we are missing leaders in the team! to lose Vieira, Bergkamp, Campbell, Pires,Edu is a big loss in terms of experience in our squad. Hopefully this season is a big learning curve for our youngsters and the true leaders of the team will start to emerge next year.
Limpar11
Henry out thats a big blow for you guys? who you reckon will come in to fill in for him?
thedunedan
the 11 that play tomm will fill in for everyone who'll be missing tomm, and they'll get the job done..
luckys_10
we have titi, gilberto, gallas, lehmann, toure the senior pros of this team, and next year we will bring in another experience keeper and a defender, so the experience will come, i think at the moment we do have enough leaders in our team, it's all about winning, in the unbeaten season, every shot that hit the post or bar was going in, and the game vs bolton, we would have won it 4-3 two seasons ago, the team just needs a little bit of luck which they deserve to be rewarded for their efforts and that will bring back the confidence and put us on our way on another winning run, and im very confident it will start tomm..
luckys_10
but coming back to henry's season, i've noticed a similarity between his season so far and the one dennis had after the 98 world cup, dennis was of the same age too as titi is now, both went to the later stages of the world cup, and even dennis had a similar start to the season with small niggling injuries, and we didn't see the best of him that season, there is a similar pattern to titi's season so far, and i'm glad he has one full week to recover from his injury and hope he gets back to full fitness and so we can all see the best of him again..
luckys_10
he isnt really on top form this season, swapped him out of my fantasy football team for being unreliable... watch him score an hat trick next game he plays
thedunedan
he scored 6 goals this season and he hasnt even played all the games, even when he is not his best, he's still better than everyone..
luckys_10
yeah that is indeed true, fancy him to be top goal scorer if he comes back at his best... He just makes football look so easy
thedunedan
Hasn't made it look easy this season!
Westl
Hmmn Its a worry when you gonna play a way and the other guys are playing a 5 4 1 .... Do I detect fear in Reg's eyes
cusop
Bit surpised by some of your comments Luckys_10 you are normally more insightful. I agree Henry's loss is not so great as historically he finds King a difficult challenge. Your central defence could be problematic with Gallas and Senderos out. Eboue's bombing forward could be problematic considering how Keane exploited this space against Chelsea. In midfield I am not sure if Wenger knows his best combination, Silva, Hleb, Rosicky or Ljungberg, does he play Fabregas a yellow away from a ban, or Song who was given a hard time but could respond with a blinder. Can RVP play as a lone striker? Will Adebayor's extra size make a difference, can Walcott get change from King who is possibly the fastest CB in the Prem. Those predicting an easy win may wake up with large amounts of egg on their faces.
Sir_Harry
no ones predicting an easy win except the spurs fans for some bizarre reason, baptista can slot into fabregas place if needed.
hazzagooner
cusop cant be as bad as us, (im a hull supporter)... we play 4-5-1 with the smallest striker possible and play long ball... :( trust me Arsenal have it easy compared to us. Although I think Arsenal will surprise people with a late surge, possibly 2nd or 3rd...
thedunedan
Sir Harry a lot has been said about in the build up to this game, and i agree this spurs team along with last season has been the best spurs team we've played against in the last few years, but i think the recent results will spur our guys more than usual for this match, and they will be out to prove a point, spurs i think will play for a draw, though they wont be as defensive as the other teams have been at the grove, but dun think jol will go all out to win this game, if he can nick a goal first, he'll be happy to defend it, but as long as it stays 0-0, he'll be happy, but i dun see the score being that for too long in the match, if we only score early, spurs will have to attack and it will play in our hands, and i feel it wont be as tough as many people predict it to be..
luckys_10
and i think wenger will go with a 4-5-1 with rvp as the lone striker and baptista just behind him, rvp i think can play alone upfront because in henry's absense, he will be the focal point upfront and most of the chances will be created for him, and if 2-3 chances fall his way in the match, i'm sure he'll score atleast one.....and the reason Wenger doesen't know his best combination so far is because he's not been able to try one particular midfield four for too long, because someone keeps getting injured, and i think it's the first time this season, that we have all our midfielders fit, so i guess he'll find that out soon..
luckys_10
The only thing im worried about is spurs on the break, we would be in complete control of the match passing the ball in the spurs half with 9 of our players there, and one clearance by a spurs player falls to lennon on the half line, and if he is in a one on one situation with djourou or clichy or eboue, he can just break away, and provide the ball to berbatov in the box, and then the same old story will repeat again. we need to rough up lennon in the early stages, maybe toure, gilberto or baptista can give him a few blows early on to dent his confidence, but the key is the first and early goal for us..
luckys_10
and Wenger will start with Fabregas, we dun need to worry about him picking up a booking, he would know from the start that he is on four yellow cards, so you wont see him making too many challenges, he'll play a very attacking role, gilberto will do all the dirty work behind him, and also if we're winning the game after 65-70 mins, Le Boss will take him off..
luckys_10
and Sir Harry, i dun think King is as fast as Gallas or even Ferdinand for that matter..
luckys_10
And Fabregas disagrres with Arsene's tactics? Surprised there hasn't been an article about George "bung me baby one more time's" comments. Oh, sorrry, I forgot, it's gonna be better next season. Happy waiting for you and L'pool.
Westl
As you will all find out tomorrow Ekotto is the quickest full back in the league & will make Cliche look like a snail..!!Oh & is Walcott quicker than Lennon..??he he he
chalky76
chlaku76 of course walcptt is much faster than lennon.and 2 sir_harry i think that toure is faster than king
princeoflove909
Westl first you get past the round of 16 in europe this time after spending all those millions on non performing players, surely it wont be as bad as last season..
luckys_10
it shudn't be..
luckys_10
About time you guys started playing is it not? No better place to start that spuds I suppose.
wemaybefamousagain
It seems like it especially after the conspiracy made its rounds not long ago.
However, I hope it's only AW's physiological work and TH will be available for the line up.
SWPACIFIC
Bad News Guyz i heard Th14 had a bust up with Aw and left the training Ground with out Training!!!! if the news is right(I hope it is not) what will be the future of Th14 for ARSENAL?
afghenry
Spurs our Team B can even beat u so dont think of any chance!!!
afghenry
we are not a one man team, i hope he plays the beast upfront, or Theo, or BOTH.. it is a chance for the rest to shine and i think the team plays differently without Thierry , so its not a bad thing.
PUREGOLD
should be an easy victory for Arsenal i predict but then i predicted that last game!!
thedunedan
henry is a class act and always will be!
swfcowls
i think baptista and van persie up front wou;ld work
sammylash
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