Henry named in Arsenal squad for semi

Last updated : 23 January 2006 By Paul Farrington
Just last week Wenger said: "Our priorities will remain the same. We use this competition to play our younger players.

"At the moment we are short of players and will stick to the team I have unless we have some recoveries. There is not much choice and the championship and Champions League are our priorities."

However the Frenchman has changed his tune after Paul Jewell's men beat Middlesbrough this weekend. Wenger commented earlier today: "Lehmann will not play, Almunia is in. But Campbell and Henry will certainly play. Pires is in the squad but I don't know if he will start or not.

"You will see the same defence as Saturday. We have not much choice especially with the left-footed players out plus Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Eboue being out for the African Nations Cup."

Henry, Hleb, Lauren, Campbell, Gilberto, Pires, Bergkamp, Reyes and Van Persie have all been named in the squad.

Make no mistake, Arsenal will be playing a strong team. Here is the Arsenal squad in full.

Manuel Almunia
Mart Poom
Johann Djourou
Mathieu Flamini
Abou Diaby
Alexander Hleb
Kerrea Gilbert
Lauren
Sol Campbell
Philippe Senderos
Gilberto
Robert Pires
Thierry Henry
Jose Antonio Reyes
Dennis Bergkamp
Robin van Persie

For the Latics, Reto Ziegler is likely to be included in the squad after his recent loan signing. It is unclear how big a part the Swiss winger will play, but he is set to be named as a substitute.

David Thompson and Neil Mellor are likely to keep their places in the side after goal scoring debuts with Arjan De Zeeuw and Lee McCulloch both out with injury.

Wright, Thome, McMillan, Taylor and Connolly are all out the game with injury.

Wigan (probable): Pollitt, Chimbonda, Baines, Henchoz, Scharner, Teale, Bullard, Kavanagh, Thomspon, Mellor, Roberts (c).

Do you have an opinion on this story?
Let us know on the messageboard - click
here.