Arsenal have a point to prove in Europe

The Arsenal party flew out of Luton today still unsure of the fitness of captain Patrick Vieira. He was unavailable for Saturday’s win over Chelsea because of suspension, but would have missed the game anyway. His troublesome thigh muscle injury makes him 50-50 for a place in the starting line up tomorrow.

“I’ve been doing a lot of work with our fitness coach and I’m really happy with the progress I’ve made,” said Vieira. “I’m aiming to be back for the Kiev match.” Wenger, though, is more cautious. “It’s difficult for me when going into a game of this intensity,” he said. “Patrick will be a big loss if he doesn’t play but, if he can play, then I will start with him.”

While Vieira and Ray Parlour should be available, Martin Keown is still troubled by injury and Dennis Bergkamp will also be absent because of his aversion to flying.

But, despite their problems, Arsenal’s domestic form has been impressive in a difficult month — drawing at Old Trafford and then beating Newcastle, Liverpool and Chelsea. Wenger will have been encouraged, too, by the dogged nature of their victory over Chelsea. Despite the absence of several star names, they demonstrated a level of team work and understanding that Chelsea couldn’t match. Edu and Thierry Henry scored the goals.

The £110 million investment of Roman Abramovich has secured a Who’s Who of big-name European stars but football is a team game and it will take Ranieri time to teach his players to perform with the cohesion of Arsenal. “I think we saw at Highbury that Chelsea is not yet a team in the way that Arsenal and Manchester United are,” he said.

Chelsea had never won at Highbury in the Premiership but Saturday’s match presented them with a golden opportunity to break that duck and give Ranieri the perfect 52nd birthday present by climbing back to the top of the table.

It wasn’t to be, though former Lazio striker Hernan Crespo supplied the most memorable moment of the afternoon with his outstanding goal.

Lazio coach Roberto Mancini knows all about the Argentine striker and if he needs updating on Chelsea he can always speak to his friend and spectator at Highbury on Saturday, Sven-Goran Eriksson, who made Mancini his assistant when he was manager at Lazio.

For Ranieri, the threat from Eriksson would appear to be receding following England’s qualification for Euro 2004. “I don’t think about it, I just work,” said Ranieri. “I have a big job to do — and Mr Abramovich is a very kind person. He went into the dressing room after the match to comfort the players.”

Most importantly, the three Chelsea central defenders absent on Saturday, John Terry, William Gallas and Marcel Desailly, could all be available to face Lazio.