Duo miss France friendly

13 April 2012

Patrick Vieira has pulled out of the French squad for Wednesday's friendly in Holland to rest a sore knee in a bid to make Saturday's FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United.

Vieira, who passed a fitness test to face United in yesterday's 1-1 draw, said: 'My knee is sore and I am going to give it two days' rest. I am hopeful of being fit for Saturday. I just want to recover properly.'

Also out of the France game is winger Robert Pires (left), who suffered an Achilles tendon problem against United but he is optimistic about being fit for Villa Park. Arsenal's treatment room will be pretty busy this week. Sol Campbell will miss England's match with Sweden to rest a long-standing groin problem but will be available for the semi-final.

A bigger problem for Arsenal is Ashley Cole, who was missing yesterday with a knee injury picked up against Chelsea in the Champions League quarter-final at Stamford Bridge last Wednesday.

Although scans revealed no major damage, the England full-back is still rated at only 50-50 for Villa Park and 18-year-old Frenchman Gael Clichy, who came in for Cole yesterday, will stay on as his replacement.

Out for the season, though, is former England Under-21 goalkeeper Stuart Taylor, who will rest his shoulder injury until the pre-season.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is also weighing up whether to rest Thierry Henry on Saturday to keep him fresh for the Champions League return leg against Chelsea on Tuesday.

The Frenchman, who scored another wonder goal that effectively rules United out of the title race, said: 'A year ago, maybe we may have lost that game. The most important thing was not to lose. On the one hand we could feel down because they scored with only 10 minutes left but on the other hand if I had tried to hit the ball like that again, I am not sure I would score.

'In the last 20 minutes we defended more than we were attacking and they could have nicked it.'

Captain Vieira said: 'It was a tough game, a quick game and both teams played to win. We would have settled for being in this position with nine games to go but we have some tough games coming up and we are aware of that.'

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