Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger says that captain and talismanic striker Thierry Henry is close to a return to the first team.

Henry himself is hoping to return for the FA Cup clash with Liverpool on January 6 but although confirming that his captain is improving daily, Wenger is wary of setting a date for Henry's return to competitive action.

Wenger said: "He's working well in training.

"There's no set date for his return, but he's not far away."

Elsewhere on the injury front, striker Emmanuel Adebayor, who has stepped up to the plate and hit a rich vein of scoring form, will also miss the next two Premiership ties due to a hamstring injury.

Wenger added: "Adebayor is out with a minor thigh strain. I think he will miss the next two games for sure, more I'm not convinced."

Arsenal have also been dealt injury blows to Johan Djourou, Theo Walcott and Alexander Hleb.

To make matters worse, a virus has hit the Arsenal squad and Francesc Fabregas, Jeremie AliádÃ.ère, Alexander Song and Julio Baptista are down with a cold but have been included in the squad.

Denilson and Lauren have thus been drafted into the squad as well and put on stand-by in case they are needed.

Wenger said: "We have viruses and everything at the moment.

"We don't have long term injuries in fairness they are short-term, a few days. But at the moment a few days is missing two games.

"Hleb got injured today on his shin. He is having an X-ray. We don't think it's bad but he will miss this game. Walcott has a bad back from yesterday.

"Then we have Henry, we have Gallas, Eboue, Ljungberg, along with Adebayor who has a thigh strain and Djourou who has a slight hamstring which again is a question of days.

"I don't know how many will be back for Tuesday - Eboue, Hleb maybe - while Gallas is doing well but he is two weeks away. He might play at the earliest in the Carling Cup against Liverpool.

"He hasn't suffered a setback but his injury was worse than we expected. It's a tendon in his thigh and at the start we thought it was not as bad but it was worse.

"Lauren is in the squad tomorrow but he's not ready to start. We have a few colds, Fabregas, Baptista, AliádÃ.ère, Song, but they will travel."



Ok up front we've got Van Persie and noone else.
Rosicky for the wings.
Hoyte for RB.
we're down eight players in a week talk about bad timing.

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