Arsenal v Toon Team News

Shay Given and £10million striker Obafemi Martins could return to the side at the Emirates Stadium, but full-backs Celestine Babayaro and Olivier Bernard are out with groin and hip injuries respectively.

Stephen Carr is a doubt with a foot problem and James Milner picked up a knock on England Under-21 duty, while Turkish midfielder Emre is suspended.

Roeder said: 'It would be much more helpful if we had more players fit - and maybe a couple more players anyway - to be able to change the team more often and give some of the players who are playing every game a rest.

'We are up to 22 first-team games since we had our first game in the Intertoto Cup, so there is a lot of pressure on the squad at the moment.'



Arsenal look set to be without Gilberto for Saturday's Barclays Premiership clash with Newcastle after the midfielder returned to Brazil to deal with a family matter.

Freddie Ljungberg and Julio Baptista are both now fit again, while goalkeeper Jens Lehmann has recovered from the heavy cold which saw him miss the win over Liverpool and Germany's midweek Euro 2008 qualifier in Cyprus.

Midfielder Tomas Rosicky (hamstring) is still a week or so away from fitness, while Abou Diaby (ankle) and Lauren (knee) are long-term absentees.

ARSENAL (from): Lehmann, Hoyte, Toure, Gallas, Clichy, Fabregas, Gilberto, Hleb, Henry, van Persie, Baptista, Ljungberg, Almunia, Djourou, Senderos, Eboue, Flamini, Walcott, Aliadiere, Adebayor.

NEWCASTLE (from): Given, Harper, Srnicek, Carr, Taylor, Moore, Bramble, Ramage, Huntington, Butt, Parker, Solano, Milner, Duff, Dyer, N'Zogbia, Pattison, Ameobi, Martins, Rossi, Sibierski, Luque.

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.