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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger considering resting Robin van Persie against Blackburn Rovers
The Gunners captain could be given a rest against Steve Kean's side at the Emirates, with Thierry Henry, Park Chu-Young and Theo Walcott potential candidates to replace him
3 Feb 2012 23:57:00
By Danny Hart
Getty Images
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has revealed that captain Robin van Persie could be rested against Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.
The Frenchman says he is tempted to rotate his squad to avoid players becoming fatigued after matches against Aston Villa and Bolton Wanderers in the past week.
“I will rotate a little bit because many players have given a lot,” he told the club's official website. “[With Van Persie] the temptation is there.
“We are in a situation at the moment where he is the main goalscorer, so I will maybe have to build a team that works around him.”
Park Chu-Young, Thierry Henry and Theo Walcott are potential candidates to replace Van Persie in attack if Wenger does decide to rest his talisman.
However, despite returning from the Africa Cup of Nations with Morocco, the Arsenal boss has confirmed that Marouane Chamakh will not be involved.
“We have Park [Chu-Young], Thierry Henry, we have Walcott who wants to play through the middle - he has not done it,” he said.
“We have not done it but we always have adapted. Thierry Henry at the start was not a centre forward, Robin van Persie was not a centre forward, so we’ll see what we do if it happens.
“But Chamakh is back. No [he is not ready to play]. He should be in today because they have 48 hours to be back after the competition, but I will not use him tomorrow.”
Arsenal, who lost 4-3 in the reverse fixture against Blackburn earlier this season, currently sit in seventh place in the Premier League, five points behind fourth-placed Chelsea.
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The Frenchman says he is tempted to rotate his squad to avoid players becoming fatigued after matches against Aston Villa and Bolton Wanderers in the past week.
“I will rotate a little bit because many players have given a lot,” he told the club's official website. “[With Van Persie] the temptation is there.
“We are in a situation at the moment where he is the main goalscorer, so I will maybe have to build a team that works around him.”
Park Chu-Young, Thierry Henry and Theo Walcott are potential candidates to replace Van Persie in attack if Wenger does decide to rest his talisman.
However, despite returning from the Africa Cup of Nations with Morocco, the Arsenal boss has confirmed that Marouane Chamakh will not be involved.
“We have Park [Chu-Young], Thierry Henry, we have Walcott who wants to play through the middle - he has not done it,” he said.
“We have not done it but we always have adapted. Thierry Henry at the start was not a centre forward, Robin van Persie was not a centre forward, so we’ll see what we do if it happens.
“But Chamakh is back. No [he is not ready to play]. He should be in today because they have 48 hours to be back after the competition, but I will not use him tomorrow.”
Arsenal, who lost 4-3 in the reverse fixture against Blackburn earlier this season, currently sit in seventh place in the Premier League, five points behind fourth-placed Chelsea.
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| Open an account with Sportingbet today and get up to £50 in free bets! |
|
| Sign up with William Hill for a free bet up to £25 |
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| Sign up with bet365 for a free bet up to £200 |
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Live!
England 1-0 Belgium, Netherlands 4-0 Northern Ireland - follow all the international action LIVE! ahead of Euro 2012
With countries across the continent gearing up for their final warm-up games ahead of Euro 2012, join us for all the action from Saturday's friendlies. Get in touch with us via Twitter with your reaction.
Hosted by Joe Doyle
Hosted by Joe Doyle
20:06 BST
So, that game gave a few players a chance to impress for England. Who did/didn't? Will Welbeck start against France? Or Carroll? Or Defoe?!
19:59 BST
Unfortunately for Northern Ireland, they are trailing the Netherlands 4-0 at half-time. Looks like that one's all sewn up then.
19:54 BST
We're still getting plenty of Hazard chat on Twitter. A few are now saying that he's not worth the hype, others saying he was brilliant(!?) and others (which I agree with), saying he created much of his own hype. What do you think? Get involved!
19:46 BST
Joe Hart has also been giving his thoughts after the Belgium game: "It was a really tough game, a good run out. I thought we played well, [but] we were a little bit bitty at times.
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
19:38 BST
Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
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