Nasri and Fabianski to start Liverpool game

By Richard Clarke

Samir Nasri and Lukasz Fabianski will make their first appearances of the season in the Carling Cup Fourth Round tie with Liverpool on Wednesday but Jack Wilshere will be missing.

The return of the French midfielder (broken leg) and Polish keeper (knee) was widely expected after they came through a Reserve game at Wolves last week. However, the loss of Wilshere (ankle) is a blow. The 17-year-old has been one of Arsenal's shining stars in this competition for the past couple of seasons.

Armand Traore (groin) is also missing but Wenger will be fielding a relatively experienced side. He intends to use the game to give Eduardo (thigh) and Nicklas Bendtner (groin) a start. Both came off the bench against West Ham on Sunday but, before that, they had missed a few games with injury.

"Nasri comes back but Traore, who played in the last round is out," said Wenger. "He has a groin problem.

"Fabianski will get a game too, he will start. But Jack had a knock on his ankle and will be out unfortunately. It is a question of days but we made a trial with him on Sunday and we are resigned to the fact he will be just too short to play.

"Eduardo and Bendtner will be back. But we still have Rosicky, Denilson and Walcott out."

Arsenal TV Online subscribers can see the full video interview on Wednesday morning. In it, he talks about

• Rafa Benitez' pressurised week
• Liverpool's win against Man United
• the importance of Nasri's return
• the goalkeeping situation
• Sanchez Watt's progress
• why Fran Merida was nearly loaned out
• the 6-3 Carling Cup win at Anfield
• where the Carling Cup fits in Arsenal's ambitions

[Tuesday, October 27, 2009]

Nasri and Fabianski to start Liverpool game

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