Arshavin set to miss Porto tie

Arsenal's Andrey Arshavin has said he will miss Wednesday's Champions League game at Porto with a hamstring strain.

Arshavin picked up the injury in last week's 1-0 winover Liverpool.

"If all goes well I will get back on the pitch as early as the next Premier League match against Sunderland," he told the Premier League's website.

Alex Song is also struggling to shake off a knee injury but the Gunners are expected to have striker Eduardo back in contention.

Arsenal have been without the Croatian for the past three weeks because of a hamstring problem.

Defender Thomas Vermaelen, meanwhile, will play through the pain barrier once more barely a fortnight after he had feared had fractured his leg against Aston Villa.

The 24-year-old was stretchered from the field in the 0-0 draw on 27 January, but the injury turned out to be no more than heavy bruising and he played against Manchester United just four days later.

"It turned out that I could play against United, but after that game I had some more problems, so I went for another scan," Vermaelen said. "We could see then that there was a big bruise on the bone, and that's all. So it is painful but that can be controlled with medicine and when it is not broken, you can't do too much wrong.

"It is not a big problem to play - yes it is still there and will take some time to go away, but it is not dangerous."