Gunners may delay Vieira return

Arsenal will risk holding back skipper Patrick Vieira from Saturday’s Premiership clash with Middlesbrough at Highbury in the hope of having him at full power for the key post-Christmas fixtures against title challengers Liverpool and Chelsea.

Results of a scan have showed there is no serious damage in the groin injury which kept the Frenchman out of last Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Tottenham after he had limped off against Valencia in the Champions League six days earlier.

But manager Arsene Wenger told the club’s website www.arsenal.com: “Patrick is unlikely to play on Saturday although he is very close (to full fitness).”

He may also miss the Boxing Day trip to West Bromwich Albion if Wenger is convinced it will recharge the inspirational midfielder sufficiently to combat Liverpool at Highbury a week on Sunday and New Year’s Day visitors Chelsea.

The decision means Wenger will also have to abandon a plan to rest Vieira’s Brazilian midfield partner Gilberto Silva for the time being. The World Cup winner has been showing signs of strain after missing just three of Arsenal’s 28 fixtures since his £4.5million move in the summer.

His compatriot Edu is also sidelined with a groin strain at Highbury which means Ray Parlour, just back from nearly three months out with hamstring trouble, looks a certain starter against Boro.

Arsenal, currently top of the table by just one point, will be Christmas Day leaders for the first time since the inception of the Premiership in 1992 if they win on Saturday.

But Wenger must now hope more than ever that veteran England goalkeeper David Seaman, 39, stays fit. His deputy, former England Under-21 keeper Stuart Taylor, has broken a finger and is out for four weeks.

Last season, Taylor dislocated a thumb in January, two months after making his Premiership debut in the 3-1 win over Manchester United and did not play in the first team again until the final game of the season when he appeared against Everton as a late substitute to ensure his 10th senior appearance of the campaign, enough to qualify for a championship medal.

Swedish goalkeeper Rami Shaaban, recovering from a thigh injury, is expected to be on the substitutes’ bench on Saturday, but with Arsenal unable to recall fourth-choice keeper Graham Stack from an agreed season-long loan at Belgian club Beveren, Wenger admits he may have to go into the transfer market when the FIFA window opens again next month.

Former England defender Martin Keown looks set, after an outstanding display at Spurs, to keep out Pascal Cygan tomorrow although the Frenchman is recovering well from a calf injury.

And Dennis Bergkamp is also available after the Football Association only fined him £5,000 for “improper conduct” against Blackburn on October 26 rather than the three-match suspension he feared despite consistently denying he had stamped on Rovers defender Nils-Eric Johansson.

Bergkamp’s case was hauled before the FA after television highlighted the incident but did not even attend today’s hearing in Birmingham.