No Thierry Henry no Jens Lehmann no Fredrik Ljungberg Philippe Senderos Ga?Clichy Abou Diaby

No Thierry Henry, no Jens Lehmann, no Fredrik Ljungberg, Philippe Senderos, Ga?Clichy, Abou Diaby – and no Ashley Cole. Arsenal’s list of absentees as they arrived in Croatia last night made damaging reading for their prospects of progressing into the Champions’ League group stages. Failing to overcome Dynamo Zagreb is, however, unthinkable and Arsenal’s manager, Ars? Wenger, acknowledged as much when he said: “We want to try to win but above all we don’t want to damage our chances of qualifying.”. Ars? Wenger yesterday set a deadline of the end of this week for Ashley Cole’s future to be decided. The Arsenal manager gave the first indication that his patience was wearing thin over the left-back’s proposed transfer to Chelsea when he said: “I don’t know what will happen with Ashley Cole in the next few days.

But for me certainly the deadline has come now to make a decision one way or another.. Chelsea have been boosted by news that Joe Cole’s injury is not as serious as first thought and he could be back in action by the end of the month. The England midfielder was taken to hospital for scans on his right knee yesterday after twisting it badly in the friendly against MLS All-Stars in Chicago on Saturday. Chelsea’s manager, Jose Mourinho, feared the injury was serious, but doctors say there is no serious ligament damage and Cole could be back in action within three to four weeks. That is a major relief to Chelsea because Cole has become a key player and had been pencilled in to play alongside Michael Ballack and Frank Lampard in Mourinho’s new 4-1-3-2 formation.
The was further good news for the club, too, when the wayward defender William Gallas turned up for the official team photograph at Stamford Bridge yesterday, and a club spokesman confirmed that the Frenchman, who had his lucky No 13 shirt taken away after missing a pre-season training camp in America, has been given squad No 3 instead. Gallas, who was fined for extending his holiday without permission, has been linked with Arsenal after his agent claimed he wanted to leave. But he took part in Chelsea’s adidas-sponsored “Blue Day Out” at Stamford Bridge where 5,000 fans who had bought lottery tickets won the right to be photographed with the team.It is not certain whether Gallas, who has one year remaining on his contract, will continue talks about a new four-year deal, but the club are confident he will not be moving across London to Arsenal.Chelsea have agreed to loan Hernan Crespo to Internazionale for two years.

Crespo has never settled and has always wanted to return to Italy. Chelsea have set up a two-year loan deal with Inter, with an option to buy him after a year and an option for him to return to London instead if he is needed.Mourinho must now decide whether to buy a replacement for Crespo, with Inter’s Obafemi Martins already linked with the club.. The prospect of Uefa Cup football proved useful once again to Mark Hughes as he was given assurances by the Dutch international Andre Ooijer yesterday that the defender will join Blackburn Rovers rather than Portsmouth by the end of the week as the Premiership’s transfer market began to warm up. It may not compete with the millions being lavished by the Premiership top four, but Ooijer’s decision to choose Blackburn may be the last obstacle to some significant movement among clubs in the middle reaches of the division.

Blackburn have so far refused to countenance offers from Portsmouth for their New Zealand defender Ryan Nelsen but now have sufficient cover at centre-back to make potentially up to £5m on a player who cost them nothing.
That Ooijer has chosen Blackburn is rewarding for Hughes. He will have to pay PSV Eindhoven around £1m for the 32-year-old, who has one year left on his contract at the Dutch club. Ooijer is likely to sign a two-year deal at Ewood Park, with the Australia international Brett Emerton set to join Middlesbrough now that Hughes regards Scottish winger Paul Gallagher as an adequate replacement.Gareth Southgate should also complete the signing of Sylvain Distin over the next week after the Manchester City captain has indicated that he favours a move there rather than to Portsmouth. The French defender is yet another player whom Harry Redknapp has missed out on.In the meantime the Norwegian Football Association is looking to head off a potential dispute with Manchester United over the call-up of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for a friendly against Brazil on 16 August.The Norway coach Age Hareide said that he hoped a “common-sense” solution could be found for the availability of Solskjaer, 33, who has come back into form and fitness this pre-season after almost three seasons away. It will have to be an ingenious solution to convince Sir Alex Ferguson, who can scarcely afford to lose his striker after the sale of Ruud van Nistelrooy.It does seem, however, that Ferguson will get Alan Smith back in the first team ahead of schedule after the player announced that he could be back playing in two weeks’ time following the broken leg and dislocated ankle he suffered on 19 February in the FA Cup against Liverpool. “When I return that hunger will be the same for me,” Smith told MUTV.”I was lucky to get this far without a major injury because football is a physical game.