Arsenal take on Benfica in a pre-season friendly today in Portugal. There were some surprises when the traveling team was named and some key Arsenal players were not listed. The biggest surprise has been the omission of Nasri, with some suggesting that he has had a fall out with Wenger whilst Wenger himself says that Cesc has a muscle problem and thus can not play.
Fabregas has also not made the trip as he is not fit yet, but then again we do not know if that is the real reason. We have to take Wenger’d word on this.
“Walcott is back in training but he is not ready just yet,” Wenger said. “Wilshere is injured on his ankle and it is very difficult to set a concrete deadline on his comeback.
“Nasri has a muscular problem. Cesc is just coming back from injury and he is not ready to play in the game. Diaby is out and Koscielny has a small muscular problem.
“Bendtner and Eboue are not in the squad because they might be going out of the Club.
“Koscielny and Nasri might be back for the start of the season. I don’t think Fabregas will be ready to start the season because he has been out for a long time and has had no games. Walcott might be back and, as for Wilshere, it is very difficult to say.”