Premiership leaders Arsenal are set to be without record signing Jose Antonio Reyes when they play second-from-bottom Wolves at Molineux today.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said the ?17-million Spanish winger, formerly of Sevilla, was struggling after playing in Tuesday's League Cup semifinal defeat against Bolton despite suffering with an infection.
"I think it was very brave," Wenger said on Thursday of the 20-year-old forward.
"I did not think he was in a state where he was ready to play but he wanted to and you have to give him credit for that.
"But you could see he did not have that zip or sharpness. I think he will be short for Saturday," the Frenchman admitted. "I have given him time to collect his affairs in Seville and I'll see how he is tomorrow [Friday] morning.
"But he had to stay in bed all day Wednesday," added Wenger of Reyes who, trying to tackle back, put through his own net to score the goal that guaranteed Bolton their place in the League Cup final later this month.
Reyes' likely absence adds to Arsenal's injury problems up front. Sweden star Freddie Ljungberg (rib) is set to be out of action for at least "two or three weeks," according to Wenger, Sylvain Wiltord (ankle) needs "three more weeks" and Jeremie Aliadere (knee) "two more weeks."
Meanwhile Kanu is still on African Nations Cup duty with Nigeria.
It all adds to the burden on star striker Thierry Henry as Arsenal look to preserve their status as the only unbeaten team in the league this season.
Not that Wolves coach Stuart Gray was taking anything for granted against a team that is still set to feature the likes of Robert Pires and Patrick Vieira, both of whom have the ability to transform defense into rapid counter-attack.
"You're never more vulnerable in the Premiership then when you haven't got the ball," Gray told the Wolverhampton Express and Star. "We need total, complete concentration. You cannot let it go even for a split second.
"Arsenal have got such tremendous pace throughout their side that this will be vital today.
"If we let them get their heads up and play they will kill us."
Meanwhile United travel to 14th-placed Everton, the Merseyside club just five points above the drop zone.
Tottenham, who like Everton also have 25 points, welcome struggling Portsmouth to White Hart Lane looking to banish the memory of their extraordinary midweek FA Cup defeat against Manchester City.
Despite being 3-0 ahead at their White Hart Lane home, Spurs still managed to lose the fourth round replay 4-3 as their Premiership rivals staged one of the all-time great Cup fightbacks.
"The most important thing is that we bounce back from it -- it will be a real test," said Spurs caretaker boss David Pleat.
At the other end of the table, fifth-placed Liverpool travel to Bolton who are still without Nigeria skipper Jay-Jay Okocha.
Elsewhere Aston Villa boss David O'Leary is up against his old club when bottom of the table Leeds United travel to Villa Park.
Tomorrow, third meets fourth when London rivals Chelsea and Charlton clash at Stamford Bridge.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier