Wenger turns up the heat on Wigan

Arsene Wenger will unleash Thierry Henry on Wigan tomorrow as Arsenal seek to reach the final of the Carling Cup by swapping youth for experience.

Skipper Henry was rested for the first leg which Arsenal lost 1-0 but he will start at Highbury as Wenger seeks to take the game to Paul Jewell’s side.

Wenger has previously used the competition to give his talented youngsters the chance to gain valuable first-team experience but the Frenchman’s desire to reach the final has forced him to dispense with that policy.

Goalkeeper Jens Lehmann has been rested but Wenger is boosted by the return of Dutch striker Robin van Persie from a broken toe. Wenger will also keep faith with the defence which failed to prevent James Beattie scoring the winner at Goodison Park in the Barclays Premiership on Saturday.

“In this competition, I have always put out a side to win the game,” said Wenger. “This time the adjustment needs to be strong. We lost the first game 1-0 and we want to go through to the final. Therefore you will see a few experienced players.

“Lehmann will not play, Almunia is in. But Campbell and Henry will certainly play. Pires is in the squad but I don’t know if he will start or not. You will see the same defence as Saturday. We have not much choice especially with the left-footed players out plus Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Eboue being out for the African Nations Cup.”

In the opening leg, an injury to Kerrea Gilbert 15 minutes from time forced Wenger to play midfielder Sebastian Larsson in an unfamiliar role and they conceded a late goal.

Wenger is determined to put Wigan under more pressure at home and feels they were unfortunate to end up on the losing side in the first game.

“We didn’t put them under pressure enough at the back and that’s why we lost the first game,” said Wenger. “We fell asleep a bit from a quick throw-in but we were unlucky to lose our right-back. Larsson is a central midfielder but played right-back and usually that’s where you are in danger – on the far post.

“I don’t think we would have conceded the goal with our right-back in there but it was not down to Larsson – we should have stopped the cross.”

Henry, who watched the first leg on television, believes home advantage will be the key against Jewell’s men.

The Carling Cup is the only trophy Arsenal have not lifted under Wenger’s tenure and Henry has promised an attacking evening.

“I watched the Wigan game but we are only at half-time,” said Henry. “Of course it would have been nice to have come back with a draw or a win, but now we have them at home, we know exactly what we have to do.

“We will have a go at them and change the tie. It was a strange game at Wigan because I expected them to be more aggressive. It seemed that both teams were waiting for each other. I’m sure they didn’t want to concede and so it wasn’t like a proper cup game because there was still the return to think about.”