Walcott left out as Wenger plays it safe for Milan test

Arsène Wenger promised yesterday that his young team were still capable of conquering Europe, but he will leave Theo Walcott out of tonight's crucial second leg tie against Milan. The 18-year-old has been in his most impressive form of the season recently, but it will be safety first for Wenger's side at San Siro.

Great teams come of age, as the Arsenal manager admitted, in games like tonight. Or, in other words, in the stadium where Manchester United failed so dismally to conquer the old school of European football 10 months ago, so the young blades of Wenger's latest Arsenal team must find a way through Milan's defence after the goalless first leg at the Emirates.

Another year and Milan are a little slower, a little more tired and a little less hungry to slay the latest young pretenders in the Champions League. Not so said Milan's manager Carlo Ancelotti, yesterday, who offered the most convincing argument yet, that his team that has drifted out to fifth in Serie A this season will not willingly give up the fight. "This competition is in the DNA of Milan," he said. "We always dream of playing like we did against Manchester United. That even came as a shock to us and I always want us to play like that."

That 3-0 defeat for United at San Siro in May, which overturned Milan's 3-2 defeat at Old Trafford, was not only chastening for the performances of men like Kaka and Clarence Seedorf. It was also bruising for United for the manner in which young players like Cristiano Ronaldo and, to a lesser extent, Wayne Rooney, faded badly from view when their team needed them most. That, more than anything, seemed to hurt Sir Alex Ferguson.

Tonight, Wenger will get to see how his young stars compare. Asked what he thought constituted a great team, he said that it came with time, "by winning major trophies and consistently competing at the top level." He added: "At the moment I feel a top team is consistent. I can play a great shot in tennis but to beat a great player I need to be consistent. I can play a great shot in golf but I have to be consistent. Consistency is the first mark of a great team. We have that."

It would be fair to say that Wenger does not quite see tonight as the do-or-die moment for his young team that most others have identified it as. "I believe this side will improve no matter what happens [tonight]," he said. "We will be a great side."

Yet it evidently comes at a crossroads in Arsenal's season: four points dropped in two Premier League games, Eduardo da Silva's injury and their lead at the top cut to a single point. Asked whether he would prefer the League title or the Champions League, Wenger still replied: "Both."

It will have been a difficult decision to leave out Walcott, who will undoubtedly feel aggrieved in not make the starting XI as he is sacrificed for more defensive expediency. Walcott made the chance that Emmanuel Adebayor headed against the bar in the first leg; he scored twice in the 2-2 draw with Birmingham City and was one of the brighter lights against Aston Villa on Saturday. But Emmanuel Eboué and Abou Diaby are preferred in midfield

The Arsenal manager will start relatively conservatively with a five-man midfield that includes Alexander Hleb, but allows the Belarusian to break forward and support Adebayor in attack.

There was no Kolo Touré in the Arsenal party that landed at Milan Malpensa last night – he is still suffering from a calf problem – although Robin van Persie was on board. The inclusion of the Dutch striker indicates a little desperation on the part of Wenger who admitted that the player was not fit enough to start tonight. Instead he will have Van Persie on the bench as a last roll of the dice, although you suspected that it would have to get pretty desperate for Wenger to send on the 24-year-old.

What began as a knee injury has led to thigh problems which have devoured Van Persie's season. He has played just 14 games or, in Wenger's words, effectively "not played for five months". On Van Persie, Wenger said the striker could "come in and play a part in the game. He can produce, even on set pieces if needed, or the pace drops in the game." It is not much of a threat from a man who last played in the Carling Cup semi-final first leg against Tottenham on 9 January.

The recent charge from the former Milan coach Arrigo Sacchi against Arsenal was that their "obsession" with beautiful football was "narcissistic".

Not a bad obsession in most people's book but the point was, once again, that this Arsenal team may not have the hard edge to beat a Milan team who know every trick in the book when it comes to winning tough European ties.

"Well, many people say that," Wenger responded. "I don't deny we are young, but I must say if you look across Europe, which team has lost only one championship [domestic] game? Inter Milan and us [and Bayern Munich]. So, for a young side, we are quite consistent. I don't deny we are young and that ideally we should have scored a goal against Milan. But I feel we delivered the game we wanted to deliver and there is no limit for us.

"Of course, we realise we cannot be naïve. We want to go from a strong defensive base. What I mean is you cannot defend in your own box because players like [Filippo] Inzaghi, [Alexandre] Pato, Kaka or [Andrea] Pirlo can hit you if you drop too deep. So we will need to be disciplined but audacious as well." No Seedorf this time and Marek Jankulovski and Emerson are also out injured for a Milan team who have lost three times in San Siro this season.

Wenger said that Marcel Desailly told him after the first leg, at the Emirates, that Milan "were absolutely amazed by our quality but they thought we should have taken advantage of our superiority."

The message was clear: Ancelotti's team thought they had escaped and they want the natural order of things to prevail tonight.

Injuries restrict Van Persie to bit-part in Arsenal's cause

Robin van Persie, who despite little match practice could be called on to rescue Arsenal tonight if things go badly, missed just two of Arsenal's first 13 games this season, scoring seven goals. Then came a serious knee injury while playing for the Netherlands in a Euro 2008 qualifier on 17 October. Since then, the 24-year-old striker has made three appearances in four and a half months. Overall he has featured in 14 of Arsenal's 45 matches so far.

*Appearances since knee injury:

12 Dec 07: 64 mins v S Bucharest (h) Won 2-1

16 Dec 07: Sub (69 mins) v Chelsea (h) Won 1-0 (picked up thigh muscle strain)

9 Jan 08: 45 mins v Tottenham (h) Drew 1-1 (picked up thigh muscle strain)