Arsenal striker Thierry Henry has been ruled out of Saturday's north London derby against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane. The Frenchman is suffering from an ankle injury which kept him out of his country's recent international against Australia and he could also be missing for next week's Champions League clash with Deportivo La Coruna in Spain. Tony Adams, David Seaman, Francis Jeffers and Matthew Upson are all definitely missing but there was some good news for Arsenal as Fredrik Ljungberg is likely to be fit for Saturday's match after recovering from the shoulder injury he sustained in the 4-2 defeat to Charlton at Highbury.
Boss Arsene Wenger has said he was never tempted to leave centre-back Sol Campbell out of his team for the trip to White Hart Lane despite it being Campbell's first visit back to Spurs since his high-profile move to the club's archrivals during the summer. "Sol did everything right. He respected his contract and left at the end - not guided by greed or any speculation or any bad behaviour towards Spurs. In my opinion he has shown great respect to Spurs by staying till the end of his contract," said the Arsenal manager.
Spurs manager Glenn Hoddle has challenged the club's supporters to ignore the hype over Campbell's return and instead help his team beat their neighbours and rise above them in the Barclaycard Premiership table. Hoddle is concerned that fans will spend so much time abusing their former captain that they will neglect supporting their own team.
"This season our fans have been fantastic at White Hart Lane, even at times when we have not been playing too well. They have turned it around for us in certain games. I want all their energy focused on getting behind our team for 90 minutes, because our incentive is to get the three points and go above Arsenal in the league. That surely has got to be much more of an incentive than having a go at Sol," said Hoddle.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
