Pain game for Vieira

Patrick Vieira wants to play through the pain barrier to keep Arsenal's Champions League hopes alive tonight but Arsene Wenger is wary of risking him in such an important game.

Wenger is expected to wait until the last minute before deciding whether to include his captain in the starting line-up against Dynamo Kiev in Ukraine.

Vieira has missed three games with a thigh strain and will not be 100 per cent fit for the game which Arsenal cannot afford to lose. Wenger admits it will be a big gamble to start with Vieira and fit-again Freddie Ljungberg.

"To start with two players who have not played for a long time virtually guarantees I will have to take them both off at some stage. But I am tempted to start with Vieira. He is even more important away from home."

Vieira, 27, said: "I will do everything possible to play."