Henry pledges to play
And Thierry Henry also eased fears as he pledged to recover from an ankle injury to face United, warning his side have added a dogged “fighting spirit” to their natural ability.
Vieira, whose dismissal at Old Trafford sparked last season’s melee, initially only had a 20% chance of playing on Sunday after being ruled out of the midweek Champions League tie in Athens with a twisted ankle.
However, after receiving intensive treatment, the Arsenal captain’s condition has since improved and he is now privately said to have a 50-50 chance of playing. This does not guarantee the Frenchman’s availability. Indeed, Arsene Wenger may decide he does not want to risk Vieira’s fitness even for a game of this magnitude.
However, with Gilberto Silva out and Edu sustaining an ankle injury against Panathinaikos, Arsenal are not giving up on Vieira just yet.
If he is ruled out, Wenger must decide whether to ask 17-year-old Cesc Fabregas to play his third big game in eight days or turn instead to untested 20-year-old Frenchman Mathieu Flamini.
Moreover, Wenger is hoping Henry and Robert Pires recover from ankle knocks sustained in the bruising encounter in Athens, with Jose Reyes also having received treatment in the first-half.
He will therefore have been relieved as Henry declared: “I twisted my ankle in the first-half. At first, I thought it was going to be worse but I’m fine.”
The striker also warned his team not to underestimate United’s challenge, as the Gunners go into the match with an 11-point advantage over Alex Ferguson’s side.
“We know this will be a special game. We will just try to go out there and take what we can take. If it’s a draw, it’s a draw. I respect Manchester United a lot. All the time, people try to write them off but, at the end of the season, they’re always around. This will only be the 10th game of the season. It’s early, even though it’s exciting.”
Even if Vieira is ruled out, Henry is impressed with the strength in depth which Arsenal have assembled, with teenager Fabregas having proved his rich potential.
“We played without our skipper against Panathinaikos but Cesc was so impressive. You must give credit to him and Edu, but Edu is an international, while Cesc is only 17 and he plays like he’s been playing football for 10 years. He is unbelievable,” he added.
“Sometimes Patrick is not around, sometimes I’m not around. But that’s the thing, we don’t just have 11 players. If you want to achieve something in a season, you must have a whole squad. When you see those guys coming in, it gives you a lift.”
Meanwhile, Fredrik Ljungberg admitted Arsenal must sort out their defending at set-pieces if they are to conquer Europe following their latest Champions League setback.
“We were ahead twice so it’s a bit annoying to concede goals when we’re leading. When you let people get chances in Europe, they score. He was on his own in the box for the header, so of course we’re not really pleased with that.
“Set-pieces are important and we need to work on our concentration in them. When we drew against Bolton, they scored from a corner and another set-piece.
“It’s not nice when someone jumps up and heads the ball in without getting challenged.”
Ljungberg admitted the Gunners were maybe too desperate to achieve success in Europe, so they adopted a safety-first mentality which proved their undoing on each occasion.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a mental thing. We maybe try to play smarter in Europe.
“At Manchester City, we stopped playing a bit when we were 1-0 up but we kept the lead,” he said.
“Maybe sometimes in Europe we want to win so much, we sit back and defend our lead too much and let them get the initiative. We want to find a balance as we want to do well. We try to find the right mixture to have great success in Europe this year.”
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