Robin Van Persie, Andrey Arshavin and Cesc Fabregas are all set to sit out Arsenal’s Champions League clash with Braga on Tuesday.
Van Persie and Arshavin are to be rested by Gunners boss Arsene Wenger while Fabregas is nursing a persistent hamstring complaint that Wenger doesn’t want to inflame in Portugal.
The Frenchman’s decision to rest key players comes in the aftermath of their hugely disappointing North London derby defeat to Spurs, where they conceded a 2-0 half time lead to lose 3-2. If you saw the livescore coming in at 2-0, you would have been forgiven for thinking it was all over.
The defeat cost them the chance to go top of the Premier League table and Wenger knows the importance of bouncing back against Aston Villa on Saturday.
However, their trip to Portugal to face Braga is far from a foregone conclusion, despite their 6-0 win in the reverse fixture at the Emirates in September
Braga defeated Celtic and Sevilla to qualify for the group stages and can draw level with the Gunners with a win so Wenger is putting faith in some of his squad players to get the result they need.
However, a win for the London club will seal their passage into the next round with a game to spare so it is worth keeping on the Livescores this evening.
The likes of Manuel Almunia, Abou Diaby, Thomas Vermaelen and Aaron Ramsey will also miss out the Group H clash though injury so the pressure is on the likes of Denilson, Jack Wilshere and Marouane Chamakh to step up and began to heal the wounds caused by that painful Spurs defeat on Saturday.
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