Henry vows Arsenal will rally around new boy Reyes

Thierry Henry has pledged to ensure the Arsenal squad rally round new signing Jose Antonio Reyes to help him settle into the Premiership more quickly than he ever managed.

Reyes is set to make his full Arsenal debut in tonight's Carling Cup semi-final second leg at Middlesbrough, a bonus for the Gunners as he was still a Seville player when the game was postponed a week ago.

Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Robert Pires took several months to get accustomed to English football after moving to Highbury.

Reyes, 20, arrives speaking no English, with no experience of life outside Spain and with huge expectations on his shoulders after his multi-million pound move.

On his debut as a substitute against Manchester City, he experienced virtual monsoon conditions, was subjected to a verbal volley from Michael Tarnat and witnessed an ugly goalmouth scuffle.

Then again, his first full appearance for the club tonight promises to be an even bigger test as he is already his team's main scoring hope as they look to turn around a 1-0 deficit from the first leg.

Henry, who will be rested for that game along with Bergkamp and many other first-team regulars, is nevertheless determined to do all that he can in the coming weeks to make Reyes feel at home.

The Frenchman, who struggled to make an impact at Highbury in his first few, largely goalless, months, admitted: "It can be difficult to settle in when you don't speak the language and you can be homesick.

"A lot of players take time to adapt. Robert Pires, for instance. If we weren't around to help Jose, it might be more difficult but the atmosphere in the team is so great that it will help him.

"I hope he's going to speak English really quickly but we can help him on the pitch to make him feel he's one of us. You must know about our mentality we all fight for each other."

Meanwhile Arsenal are hoping to avoid another Football Association trial by video.

The Gunners were punished heavily after the melee at Old Trafford earlier this season, but they look to have escaped the threat of further disciplinary action following victory over Manchester City.

While Nicolas Anelka was sent off in the final stages, Ashley Cole and Edu were booked by referee Alan Wiley for their part in the unseemly scenes as players struggled to recover the ball. The duo still face a nervous wait until confirmation is received in Wiley's official report that he witnessed all of the incidents and feels that he dealt with them sufficiently.

However, he confirmed to the FA earlier yesterday that he had booked Edu for entering the fray, thereby ruling out the possibility of the Brazilian being charged.

Cole also looks likely to escape the gaze of the video advisory panel, and even though he may have admitted that he deserved the same treatment as Anelka, who now faces a three-match ban, the FA have no power to act unless an incident has not been seen by the match officials.