Jonathan Woodgate is not expected to have recovered from his thigh strain in time for Sunday, meaning that his debut will probably now be at Elland Road against his former club Leeds on February 22. Our only other game before then is the Champions League clash with Bayer Leverkusen for which he is ineligible.
That is assuming of course that there is no truth in the rumour that Leeds insisted that he couldn’t play in the game at Elland Road as a condition of the sale.
It’s not all bad news though as the Gunners Freddie Ljungberg has ruled himself out of Sunday’s game, despite returning from an Achilles injury in the reserves on Monday.
After playing an hour of the 1-1 draw with Chelsea the scruffy Swede claimed that he was targeting Arsenal’s FA Cup tie with Man United for his comeback.