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Arsène Wenger revealed on Wednesday night that his star player and captain Thierry Henry is fit enough to start in Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League First knockout round second leg game against PSV. The Arsenal coach presented the news at his pre-match press conference at the Emirates Stadium following the Gunners’ final training session ahead of the game. “He came through a training session this morning and he can start if I decide to start him”, he explained.
Arsenal trained at the Emirates Stadium in the morning. “He can start if I decide to start him. There is no risk to his health or medical problems, but it could get a bit worse after the game and then we would have to start from scratch.” Wenger thinks his key player Henry brings the capacity to make a difference in a game in which Arsenal will have to overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit. “He is such an influential and vital player, because he can score a goal for us at any minute. He has great qualities, passes the ball well and is amazing as a goalscorer. Such a player is vital to us in a game we must win. I don’t think he has lost much of his fitness.”
Wenger expects PSV to be cautious. “They succeeded in beating us 1-0 by adopting a defensive approach. They leant back, before catching us the break with counter attacks. 1-0 is a nasty result. It is hard, from a psychological point rather than footballwise. We must obviously strike a balance between defence and attack and trey to open the scoring as soon as possible. I think we are able to score goals, if we find solutions by being creative around the box. We have to be strong in our game and not count on set-pieces, but maybe one day in a game like that we can find a solution with set-pieces as well.”
