ARSENAL ARE waiting to learn whether Cesc Fabregas will be fit to face Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-final first leg at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday.

The captain received a blow just below the knee in the 1-1 draw with Birmingham City on Saturday and, although he managed to finish the match, Wenger was unable to offer any assurances that Fabregas would be available to take on his former club.

The Arsenal medical staff were due to assess the injury yesterday. The Arsenal manager refused to risk Fabregas when he had a hamstring problem before their last-16 second leg against Porto earlier this month but he will hope the latest injury, because it was a kick rather than a strain or pull, is not so serious.

Wenger also revealed that Abou Diaby picked up a knock at St Andrew’s. Whether Diaby is a major doubt for Barcelona is unclear but Samir Nasri and Andrey Arshavin are expected to be in the squad.

The manager admitted that dropping points at Birmingham had left his players deflated. “It is always hard to pick the players up when you get caught like that,” he said. “[But] Barcelona is a different competition and we have a few days to recover and prepare.”

There was at least some good news for Arsenal yesterday when it emerged that Barcelona’s Andres Iniesta has been ruled out of the first leg with a tweaked hamstring.

The Spain international limped off in the second half of Barca’s 1-0 win at Real Mallorca and needs approximately 10 days to recover, the club said on their website (www.fcbarcelona.cat).

Barca are level with Real Madrid on points in La Liga but trail their rivals on goal difference following Real’s 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid last night and Iniesta should be back in time for the potentially decisive “Clasico” at the Bernabeu in two weeks.

Fabregas has reiterated, meanwhile, he has no plans to leave Arsenal.

The player, who started his career at Barcelona, has regularly been linked with a return to his old club. Real Madrid are also admirers of the 22-year-old, but Fabregas has stressed that he has no intention of seeking a move back to Spain.

“We don’t need to talk about my future,” Fabregas said yesterday. “I don’t understand all the rumours about me.

“I’ve always said that I’m happy at Arsenal. I can say a thousand times that I won’t go to a Spanish club, but nobody believes me.

“Arsenal is my home and I don’t have any plans to leave.”

Barcelona striker Thierry Henry admits it will be both “strange” and “emotional” for him to face former side Arsenal.

For Henry it will be the chance to play against the club where he spent eight hugely successful seasons. Although it was the draw he had hoped to avoid, he admits it will be a special occasion for him.

“I’m very emotional, but also staying calm. It will be a strange game for me. Before the draw I said that I did not want to face Arsenal. That was my wish.

“But now that’s the game we’ve got and we’ll have to give everything,” said Henry.

“It’s very special. To return home is strange and even more so in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

“Since I joined Barcelona I’ve only been to see Arsenal on one occasion, against Blackburn three or four months ago. It will be only the second time. I do not know how the fans will react,” the 32-year-old told Barca TV.

Guardian Service