Arsenal v FC Porto

Emirates Stadium
Tuesday, 26 September
Kick-off: 1945 BST

Arsenal have slight doubts over midfielder Freddie Ljungberg (knee) and centre-back Johan Djourou (foot).

However boss Arsene Wenger said he is optimistc that Ljungberg, who missed training training on Monday, and Djourou will both be available.

Captain Thierry Henry is expected to start after playing on Saturday.

But Philippe Senderos (shoulder), Gael Clichy (foot), Lauren (knee) and Abou Diaby (ankle) are all still a few weeks away from a return.

Arsenal (from): Lehmann, Eboue, Toure, Hoyte, Djourou, Gallas, Hleb, Baptista, Fabregas, Gilberto, Rosicky, Van Persie, Flamini, Adebayor, Almunia, Ljungberg, Walcott, Song, Henry.

BIG MATCH STATS

Definitions of terms used:-

Champions League (CL) - only group phase matches and beyond of this competition which began in 1992-93.

Champions Cup/Champions League - all matches played since it began in 1955-56 including qualification matches.European matches - all matches played in the major European tournaments (Fairs Cup, Uefa Cup, Cup Winners' Cup, Champions Cup, Champions League).

Uefa Super Cups, Intertoto Cups and the old Intercontinental Cup competition are excluded.

Head-to-heads

Arsenal and FC Porto have never met before. Arsenal have hosted Portuguese opposition twice, winning once and losing once. Most recently they lost 4-2 on aggregate to Benfica in the 1991-92 Champions Cup.

FC Porto travel to England for the ninth time. They have failed to win in their eight previous trips, drawing once and losing seven. Honours were even in the 2003-04 CL match at Old Trafford, when they drew 1-1 with Manchester United.

European history

Arsenal - last season's beaten finalists - are making their ninth appearance in the CL main competition and their seventh consecutively.

FC Porto are competing in their 45th European campaign. 1973-74 was the last season in which they did not participate in Europe.

Current European form

Arsenal are unbeaten in 10 CL home matches and have kept a clean sheet in their last five.

FC Porto have recorded two successive goalless draws and failed to win any of their last four matches in the Champions League. Their last victory dates back to 19 October 2005 when they beat Inter Milan 2-0 in the group phase.

Player and disciplinary info

The Gunners squad contains four players with 50 or more CL appearances - Jens Lehmann (50), Lauren (53), Fredrik Ljungberg (60) and Thierry Henry (79). Henry is Arsenal's most prolific CL striker with 41 goals.

Veteran goalkeeper Vitor Baia is Porto's most experienced CL player with 56 matches.

Following Benni McCarthy's departure, Croatian striker Sokota is their top scorer in this competition with three goals. If he plays, Ricardo Quaresma will be playing on his 23rd birthday.
Other miscellaneous facts

Thierry Henry is fourth on the all-time top scorers list of Champions League with 41 goals, trailing Ruud van Nistelrooy, Andriy Shevchenko (both on 43) and Raul (51).

Both of these clubs enjoyed victories over the weekend. The Gunners defeated Sheffield United 3-0 in the Premiership on Saturday, a day after Porto beat SC Beira-Mar (3-0) with goals from Helder Postiga, Lisandro Lopez and Tarik Sektioui. It was a fourth successive League victory, leaving Porto top of the table.

Big Match Stats source: Infostrada Sports

From : BBC Sports