Fabregas & Walcott Out - And Arsenal want Bojan Krkic

Despite the injuries, there is good news. Arsenal apparently want Bojan Krkic of Barcelona [Full Story].

That seems unlikely; especially as Barcelona have only recently called Arsenal "immoral" in their capture of a Barca academy player. I wouldn't think Barcelona would be too keen on dealing with Arsenal after that.

Anyway...
Fabregas and Walcott will miss the Carling Cup final through injury, and Walcott is likely to miss the Barcelona clash on the 8th March. This must be unbelievably frustrating for Fabregas especially, seeing as his main aim as captain was to lift a trophy, and now Arenal's best chance of doing so has come about he is going to be nothing more than a Wembley spectator.

Wenger said of Walcott who suffered an ankle injury against Stoke:

"Walcott will be out for two to three weeks with an ankle problem.

"I would say today it is very unlikely he will be fit for the second leg of the Barcelona game.

"I imagine the worst so maybe I will be surprised in a positive way but I just give you my gut feeling at the moment."

And of Fabregas:

"You cannot play football when you're injured. He's sad and disappointed but it could have been worse the injury - it's a very small one. We have many targets in front of us so it is important he is not out for longer."

Asked how long he would be absent, Wenger replied:

"One or two games maybe."

I think it isn't so bad that Fabregas will miss the next few games. The injury isn't at all serious, so he will just be rolled up in cotton wool and rested until the Barcelona game. It may work out well. No disrespect to Birmingham, but even without Fabregas and Walcott, Arsenal are comfortably the better side and should win comfortably.

The Walcott injury on the other hand isn't so good. His pace will be missed against Barcelona, but Arsenal should cope - although Wenger hasn't completely ruled him out of it, and still hold the hope that he will be pleasantly surprised.

"RUEDA DE PRENSA DE PINTO"

"MESSI VUELVE CON EL GRUPO"

Después de que en la sesión del miércoles se quedara en el gimnasio haciendo trabajo específico, Messi se ha ejercitado este jueves con el resto del grupo con total normalidad. Thiago, Miño y Montoya continúan entrenándose con el primer equipo.

El viernes, a las 11 horas

El Barça volverá a ejercitarse mañana viernes, en una sesión preparatoria, a puerta cerrada, prevista para las 11 horas y que tendrá lugar en la Ciudad Deportiva Joan Gamper. Seguidamente, Josep Guardiola atenderá a los medios de comunicación en la rueda de prensa previa al partido contra el Mallorca.

El conjunto dirigido por Josep Guardiola ha llevado a cabo la segunda de las tres sesiones preparatorias que tiene previstas para afrontar el partido de Liga de este sábado en el campo del Mallorca.

A diferencia del último entrenamiento , en el que Lionel Messi se había quedado en el gimnasio para llevar a cabo trabajo específico, en esta ocasión el argentino sí ha saltado al campo número 2 de la Ciudad Deportiva Joan Gamper para seguir el actividad de sus compañeros con total normalidad. 

Trabajo de campo para Puyol y Jeffren 
De esta manera, el técnico barcelonista ha podido contar para este entrenamiento con la totalidad de la plantilla con la excepción de las ya conocidas bajas de Jeffren, Puyol, Valdés y Xavi. A Jeffren y Puyol se les ha podido ver haciendo trabajo individual de campo acompañados de un recuperador, mientras que Valdés y Xavi han seguido con el tratamiento de sus respectivas lesiones. 

Los mismos del Barça B 
Como ya pasó en la última sesión preparatoria, Josep Guardiola ha decidido volver a contar con tres jóvenes del equipo de Luis Enrique para completar el grupo. Se trata del lateral derecho Martín Montoya, del portero Rubén Miño y de Thiago Alcántara.