CHAMPIONS LEAGUE/Arsenal v Bayer Leverkusen: Regular red card-carriers Arsenal may be, but the team Arsene Wenger sends out against Bayer Leverkusen at Highbury tonight in an attempt to find some daylight in the tightest of the second-round groups will be distinctly short of leftish tendencies.
The loss of Giovanni van Bronckhorst with a knee injury means that Wenger has run out of naturally left-footed players in defence and midfield. Ashley Cole was already among the casualties.
"I remember this happening to me once at Monaco but never at Arsenal," Wenger mused yesterday as he contemplated keeping Lee Dixon, who replaced Van Bronckhorst in Saturday's game, at left-back.
Dixon, 38 next month, is a right-back but did start on the left when George Graham brought him to Highbury 14 years ago.
Edu and Lauren are the other options but the manager may be keener to use Dixon in a match they must win if they are to keep their quarter-final hopes in a reasonable state of health. Their next game is at home to Deportivo La Coruna and the last at Juventus. All four are level on four points, with Arsenal in second place behind Juve.
"We must win," Wenger admitted, "and we believe we can do it."
Certainly Dixon would relish one last opportunity in the Champions League, especially after the way in which Arsenal went out to Valencia in last season's quarter-finals.
For Wenger this could hardly be a worse moment to lose not only his lefties, but Ray Parlour and Oleg Luzhny to suspensions and Martin Keown, Tony Adams, Fredrik Ljungberg, Matthew Upson to other injuries. Certainly the last things Arsenal will need tonight is another red card.
But if Patrick Vieira again commands the midfield this, plus the stealth of Robert Pires and the finishing of Thierry Henry and Sylvain Wiltord, should see Bayer beaten.
ARSENAL (possible 4-4-2): Seaman; Lauren, Stepanovic, Campbell, Dixon; Wiltord, Vieira, Grimandi, Pires; Bergkamp, Henry.
BAYER LEVERKUSEN (possible 4-4-2): Butt; Placente, Nowotny, Lucio, Zivkovic; Ballack, Schneider, Basturk, Ze Roberto; Neuville, Kirsten.
Referee: A.Hamer (Luxembourg).
Guardian Service
