Portsmouth Football Club News

Arsenal will be without four key players at Fratton Park on Saturday. The Gunners, who have not lost to Pompey for more than half a century, will be missing Eduardo, Mikael Silvestre, Robin van Persie and Gael Clichy, Arsene Wenger told Arsenal TV. All four are injured for the south coast clash, which falls between the two legs of Arsenal’s Champions League semi-final with Manchester United. Eduardo, Silvestre and van Persie all have groin injuries while Clichy has a back problem. “For the weekend we have lost Eduardo certainly,” Wenger told Arsenal TV Online. “He has done his groin again unfortunately. “Rio Ferdinand fell on him when he had that accident. His knee went on his groin and that detached some fibres. Silvestre has a groin as well. “We have not scanned them yet but they both miss Saturday for sure. “Robin van Persie is out for the weekend and we will only know very, very late if he could be available for Tuesday or not. We may not know until Tuesday. Gael Clichy is definitely out.” Arsenal’s Fratton Park visit comes amid talk that Wenger may rotate his squad. The game falls less than 72 hours after their 1-0 first leg defeat at Old Trafford, with the return at the Emirates on Tuesday night. But the big incentive for the Gunners – who have not lost in 20 Premier League mathces – is that they can secure fourth place with a win at Pompey. “We want to keep our run going and win the game,” said Wenger. “I want to give some players a breather who need one but as well it is very important for us to get closer to Chelsea. And I don’t want to give any hope to Villa either.” Pompey are seven points clear of the bottom three and could make themselves mathematically safe from relegation this weekend if they beat Arsenal while Middlesbrough and Newcastle lose. Boro are at home to Manchester United in Saturday’s early kick-off while Newcastle go to Liverpool on Sunday. The Blues have not won in 18 games against Arsenal: the last was a 5-4 home triumph in March 1958. But they have a decent record against them in the Premier League, with six draws from 11 encounters, four of them at Fratton Park.

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