Late Fitness Cesc

On the one hand...

Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas says he wanted to play through the pain barrier against Porto, but took the advice of doctors in a bid to return to action at the weekend...

Scans have revealed that there is no major damage and there is a chance Fabregas could make his comeback against Hull this weekend.

On the other...

Arsenal are facing up to a month without William Gallas after the defender aggravated his calf injury.

What was just a few days ago considered to be a minor issue has turned in a major setback - and one which leaves Arsene Wenger with a major selection complication as he reshapes the centre of his defence.

Although Sol Campbell has been passed fit for tonight's meeting with Porto, he has so far proved unable to play more than one game a week since resigning with the Gunners in January and Wenger has admitted he may have to rotate the former England defender with Mikael Silvestre on a match-by-match basis...

As well as confirming that Cesc Fabregas would be unable to play against Porto and is unlikely to return for Saturday's trip to Hull, Wenger also acknowledged that Andrei Arshavin was not yet fit enough to play ninety minutes after his recent hamstring injury.

Of course the last time he returned from this hamstring injury he came off the bench to score two against Aston Villa. And speaking of Villa and twos. they travel to Stoke and Wigan this week. Perhaps Cesc to Milner or Young is the play here.