Campbell doubtful for England qualifiers

ARSENAL defender Sol Campbell has been rated as a major doubt for England’s World Cup qualifiers against Northern Ireland and Azerbaijan later this month.

Campbell is already ruled out for at least the next fortnight with an ankle problem, with Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admitting the defender "has not played enough this season."

However, despite missing Campbell's influence amid defensive frailties, Wenger is determined not to rush him back too quickly because his "heavy build" puts so much strain on his strained ankle. Campbell will miss today's Premiership game against Portsmouth, Wednesday's Champions League tie against Bayern Munich and next weekend's FA Cup sixth round tie at Bolton. The earliest he could return is at Blackburn on March 19.

Wenger revealed: "Sol has still not been out on the training pitch yet. It will be very close for the England games. I feel he will be out for another two to three weeks. He should come out and run next Wednesday, so he could just be available for England, although he would have played one game maximum by then.

"Who do England play though Northern Ireland and Azerbaijan? You shouldn't need to inject him to play them."

The Arsenal defender, who missed the start of the season with an Achilles problem, suffered his second ankle injury since the turn of the year against Manchester United on February 1.

He has played in just 18 of Arsenal's 42 games so far this season, with their defensive problems having cost them dearly in his absence. Wenger confirmed the injury was more serious than first thought, adding: "the ankle is still not right. We have now decided not to rush him back. He has a heavy build so when he goes out on his ankle, he puts a heavy weight on it. So he must be completely right.

"There is no medical sign that we should be concerned by a longer-term problem but I cannot deny that he hasn't played enough this season."

Campbell's absence comes at a time when Arsenal are still without Gilberto Silva, Edu, Robert Pires and Justin Hoyte through injury. Dennis Bergkamp and Jose Antonio Reyes are also banned from facing Portsmouth today, although Robin van Persie may still not recapture his place after returning from a one-match suspension.

Quincy Owusu-Abeyie was so impressive as a substitute in the FA Cup replay win at Sheffield United that Wenger is considering handing him a first Premiership start alongside fit-again Thierry Henry.

That would be a considerable setback for van Persie, who earned Wenger's wrath when he was sent off at Southampton last weekend.

"Thierry is fit so he will play. As for the second striker, I don't know who it will be Quincy or van Persie," revealed Wenger.

Despite doubts over Cole and Cygan, Wenger said he would not be resting key players ahead of the Champions League second leg tie against Bayern.

"I want to win this game as we want to get as close to possible to 90 points, which is our target for the season."