Arsène Wenger asks France and England to go easy on Arsenal players

Arsène Wenger has warned Fabio Capello and Laurent Blanc to play the five Arsenal players involved in tonight's international between England and France at Wembley for only part of the game, ahead of Saturday's north London derby against Tottenham Hotspur and Tuesday's visit to Braga for a Champions League group game. Capello is expected to start Theo Walcott and Kieran Gibbs for England, while Samir Nasri and Bacary Sagna should begin in Blanc's France side, which will also feature Gaël Clichy on the bench. Wenger told ArsenalTV: "We play Saturday morning against Tottenham [actually 12.45pm] and then Tuesday night in Braga so let's hope that some of our players will not play full games." The Frenchman also criticised the timing of the international. "It should be an interesting game but unfortunately at the wrong period of the season," he added. "England-France is never only a friendly. There is always more at stake."