Gallas won't play against Barca

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Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
20 Mar	5:45 PM	P	West Ham United (H)	2	0	Win

Arsène Wenger has conceded that he does not expect William Gallas to be ready for Arsenal's game against Barcelona.

The Gunners will, in all probability, have to face the daunting task of dealing with Lionel Messi and co. with veterans Sol Campbell or Mikael Silvestre partnering Thomas Vermaelen in defence.

Gallas has been sidelined by a mysterious injury which Wenger has spoken negatively about, and it looks like the key defender won't be able to play in one of Arsenal's biggest games of the season, and perhaps even for the rest of the campaign.

Wenger said: "I hope he will play again soon, but at the moment it does not look too good.

"He will play some part before the end of the season, but will he be ready to play against Barcelona? That is another question mark. I would say he is already at 80 per cent out for the first leg.

"But he should play again before the end of the season."

Some positive news, however, was that Arsenal will welcome back midfielders Cesc Fabregas and Tomas Rosicky for the Premier League visit of West Ham tomorrow.

Fabregas injured himself against Burnley and has sat out the last two games against Porto and Hull, but Wenger will be hoping his influential captain can come back and make an impact for the closing stages of the season.

The boss told the official site: "Cesc is back in the squad. He had a test on Friday and it was positive.

"Rosicky is back in the squad and [Alex] Song is available after suspension. On that front it looks quite good."

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