Barclays Premiership
Arsenal Stadium, Highbury
Saturday, April 15, 2006, 3pm
Arsenal-
West Bromwich Albion-
By Richard Clarke
Arsène Wenger plans to carry on rotating his side for the rest of the season.
The Arsenal manager has left out major players in each of the last two Premiership games. But those fixtures have brought him only one point — a worrying reward in midst of a desperate chase for the fourth and final Champions League place.
Wenger promised to switch his side once more for the visit of West Brom on Saturday.
"The big problem we face is that, in the last 16 of the Champions League, you play every week," said the Frenchman. "You play Juventus, Aston Villa and then you play Juventus again. After that you play Manchester United, Portsmouth, West Brom, Villarreal, Tottenham, Villarreal, Sunderland, then Man City.
"If you think you can go with the same XI, then you have no chance. One day you hit the wall, you will lose seven. The earlier you address the problem, the more chance you have to get reasonably away with it."
Wenger's decision to rest Thierry Henry at Old Trafford has drawn criticism, though equally Gilberto's omission on Wednesday might have prevented the Portsmouth leveller. Lumano Tresor Lua Lua's header came from set-piece and the Brazilian is a very useful addition in the penalty area on such occasions.
"Thierry Henry was left out [at Manchester United] because he had not recovered physically from the two Juventus games and Aston Villa," said Wenger. "That is the only reason.
"We have played with Thierry away from home before and have lost seven or eight times. You make decisions just to try to protect your players. When it goes wrong, you have to stand up and say it was the wrong decision maybe - but nobody can prove that.
"I will continue to rotate because I have no other choice. I think at Portsmouth we played very well and deserved to win. It can happen. We are in a situation where every point counts, and therefore of course you can just say if you are in a normal situation, maybe it is a good point, but considering the fact we needed to win, you can say 'OK it was not".
Such discussions would not be on the agenda had Emmanuel Adebayor taken one of two glorious chances to put Arsenal 2-0 ahead.
"Of course he was disappointed," said Wenger. "When you are a goalscorer, it is not a co-incidence because you like to score. So when you don't score, you are really disappointed because it is a big meaning for you. He was highly disappointed because he feels he punished the team."
Sol Campbell's nose was broken at Fratton Park on Wednesday night. He underwent surgery the next day and the earliest estimation of a return is the game against Tottenham on April 22. Francesc Fabregas (foot) is likely to be out for the same length of time although Wenger did concede he had a "little chance" for Wednesday's Champions League Semi-Final first leg against Villarreal.
Before that West Brom will present another stiff test despite a poor run that has seen them pick up two points from a possible 24 in the Premiership. With Sunderland seemingly down, Robson's side are in a race with Birmingham and Portsmouth to avoid the drop.
"It is a little bit what happens every year," said Wenger. "One team is definitely dead now and suddenly all the others are resurgent and come back to good form. I saw West Brom against Tottenham and I was impressed. They deserved to win the game.
"But Birmingham are picking up points and Portsmouth are doing well. So it is difficult to predict who will go down. You expect an intense game on Saturday."
Arsenal fans will have to get used to those for the remainder of this season
