Venue: Stadio Olimpico Date: Wednesday, 11 March Kick-off: 1945 GMT
Coverage: Score updates on BBC Radio 5 Live with live text commentary on the BBC Sport website
|
Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor will miss the Champions League tie with Roma because of an ongoing hamstring injury.
But Ivory Coast defender Kolo Toure should be fit for the match, which Arsenal lead 1-0 from the first leg.
Eduardo and Theo Walcott - who both played in the Gunners' FA Cup win over Burnley - are among manager Arsene Wenger's options up front.
Meanwhile, Roma defender Cicinho is out for the season after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament.
Up front, Eduardo made a strong case for inclusion with a superb goal against the Clarets, while England winger Walcott played the last 20 minutes in his first appearance since shoulder surgery in November.
Walcott admits he is not fit enough to start yet but could make an impact from the substitutes' bench.
"I need a few more training sessions, a few more games coming off the bench and hopefully if I am doing well the boss will put me in," said Walcott.
In the 2002-03 CL second group phase, Arsenal beat Roma 1-3 in Rome before drawing 1-1 in London. Roma striker Francesco Totti was sent off after 22 minutes in the match at Highbury.
Roma have been dismissed from Europe by an English club in the past three seasons. Middlesbrough knocked them out in the fourth round of the Uefa Cup in 2005-06 and Manchester United have eliminated them in the quarter finals of the Champions League the last two seasons.
Roma have conceded at least one goal in each of their last 14 matches against clubs from England.
Arsenal have not lost in their last four visits to Italy, winning three times and drawing once. The Londoners are unbeaten in their last six meetings against Italian clubs (won four, drawn two).
ROMA
In their sixth season of Champions League football, their best result is a quarter-final berth which they achieved in the past two seasons.
This year's final will be played on AS Roma's home turf, Stadio Olimpico. When Roma went all the way in the European Champions Cup in 1983-84, they lost the final in Stadio Olimpico to Liverpool on penalties.
ARSENAL
Making their 11th successive appearance in the CL main competition. Their best result was reaching the final in 2006 when they lost to Barcelona.
Have eight different goal scorers in the CL this season, only Barcelona have more (nine).
Roma's Julio Baptista played for the Gunners in the 2006-07 season, scoring three goals in the Premier League and one in the Champions League.
The Italian clubs' all-time CL top scorer Francesco Totti has yet to net in 11 matches against English clubs in this season's competition.
Daniele De Rossi is suspended. Matteo Brighi and Philippe Mexes will face a suspension if they receive a yellow card.
Denilson is the only Arsenal player to appear in all seven CL matches this season from beginning to end.
Carlos Vela is the only other Arsenal player that has featured in all CL matches this term.
Robin van Persie is one yellow card shy of an automatic suspension.
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.
Big Match Stats source: Infostrada Sports
No comments:
Post a Comment