Brave Charlton hold Arsenal

Charlton 1 Arsenal 1

Vieira only returned after a three-week injury absence for Arsenal’s midweek Champions League defeat in Kiev.

However, his introduction as a second-half substitute in a bid to salvage a point backfired as the midfielder suffered a new thigh injury.

Wenger had been hoping that his captain could be back in action in just over a fortnight. However, the Arsenal boss revealed following the 1-1 draw at Charlton yesterday Vieira had “torn a muscle just above his former injury” in his thigh.

Wenger added: “It could be at least three more weeks before Patrick can play again.”

This means that Vieira will not only miss next weekend’s trip to Leeds and the return fixture against Dynamo, but also the north London derby against Tottenham.

At least an international break could then give him time to recover before the Premiership fixture at Birmingham on November 22 and the Champions League tie away to Inter Milan three days later.

Vieira’s absence nevertheless exposes the lack of strength in depth in the Arsenal squad. It was no wonder, therefore, that Wenger responded wryly to reports of a Russian billionaire’s interest in investing in Arsenal.

“I didn’t meet one of them in the corridor,” he said. “But I would be very happy to see one.”

The report has been played down not only by sources within the club but also in a statement on behalf of the billionaire in question, Vladimir Potanin.

A spokeswoman for his mining empire’s parent company, Interros, said: “In response to rumours about Interros president Vladimir Potanin’s intention to acquire the English soccer club Arsenal and allegations about negotiations he has held with the club’s management, the press service is authorised to officially deny this information.

"Potanin is not planning to buy any sports clubs,” she said.

Meanwhile, Wenger effectively accused Matt Holland of diving to win the penalty which ensured Charlton held Arsenal to a draw at the Valley.

Only a couple of weeks ago, Wenger was defending winger Robert Pires against similar allegations following his theatrical tumble to win a penalty against Portsmouth at Highbury.

However, on this occasion Wenger went on the offensive in his post-match reaction to the decision to punish full-back Lauren for his challenge on Republic of Ireland international Holland.

Wenger declared: “If I was the manager of Charlton, I would be very happy. There was no water underneath him but it was very nice. There was no contact between the players and I do not believe there is any comparison between this and Robert Pires.

“Robert was touched against Portsmouth when he was on the run and this was different. I don’t rage about it, I can’t change anything now,” he said.

While the most surprising part of the incident was actually that Wenger had witnessed it at all, his Charlton counterpart Allen Curbishley said his side may have been fortunate.

“I’ve been told that it was a bit fortuitous but smaller clubs don’t get too many penalties,” he said.

“That was our first in the Premiership this season and we only got four penalties last season.”

Although Paolo Di Canio converted the penalty, Arsenal equalised six minutes before the break through Thierry Henry, who also struck the crossbar.

Henry, who described the penalty as a bit harsh, was at least satisfied that Arsenal had risen back above Chelsea to be top of the Premiership table.

Although Henry has now scored half of Arsenal’s 20 goals in all competitions this season, Wenger insisted that more support would soon be on its way.

“There are many players around Thierry who can score goals and they will score goals again,” he said.

CHARLTON: Kiely, Kishishev, Perry, Fish, Hreidarsson, Jensen, Parker, Holland, Stuart, Di Canio (Euell 45), Johansson (Campbell-Ryce 76).

ARSENAL: Lehmann, Lauren, Campbell, Toure, Cole, Ljungberg (Kanu 70), Parlour, Silva, Pires, Bergkamp (Wiltord 70), Henry.

Referee: S Dunn (Gloucestershire).