Men in Grey Clue to Who's in Squad, and Who I'snt
WWWHL
By Boris Mellor
February 24 2007
Wenger named Lehmann, Gallas and Freddy as definitely not in the squad. Eboue, Clichy and Hoyte are all doubtful. Clichy and Hoyte will have late fitness tests. Arsene didn’t name Henry in his list of definitely outs, although Henry has named himself as being in the stands.
However in the event of any late injury to any of the squad that could change, but it is unlikely.
So who is in the squad? Wenger says we can guess, by that he means those who were actively involved in the rounds up to the final will be rewarded with a place. The fact that those players played every game away until the second leg of the semi-final demonstrates what an achievement it is.
Now according to the BBC the squad will be
"Arsenal (from): Almunia, Poom, Hoyte, Senderos, Toure, Djourou, Clichy, Traore, Walcott, Diaby, Flamini, Fabregas, Denilson, Aliadiere, Adebayor, Baptista, Hleb, Rosicky, Randall, Connolly."
Suits you
I am surprised they have left Gilberto out of their list, because he is one of the men in Grey, he is featured on Arsenal.com wearing a cup final suit along with Djourou, Ali, Cesc, Toure and Walcott. That means about 12 players are missing from the photo shoot, no doubt to keep the specially needy one guessing. But surely Gilberto isn’t there just to confuse things?
Whoever Wenger picks he can play up to 14 players, and as he is ruled out several senior players it certainly means that a large number of those who did the hard work of getting to the final will be rewarded. At the same time Wenger can have a safety net of senior players on stand by if it get really tough. Whatever combination he uses it will be one of the youngest teams ever to play in the final. Well not long to go and we shall know what that combination is.
Chelsea will probably play the strongest possible team they can, which could mean Cashley Cole faces his old team. But John Terry will not be available, and we know that Chelsea do not defend as well without him. How ironic that a now fit Gallas will have his feet up watching from the stands.
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