Wenger points finger over Freddie injury

Ljungberg warns of fear factor in Europe as his manager calls for tougher international rules

Patrick Vieira's tired legs have dominated Arsène Wenger's agenda this past week. In contrast, Freddie Ljungberg has had nothing to focus on but his hip for the last three months. The Swede, who was instrumental in the Gunners' Double success last season, picked up the injury three days before the kick-off of the World Cup. He soldiered on, but now admits he was perhaps unwise to play in the tournament.

At least both men will soon be battling on a common front: Tuesday marks the first step in of one of Arsenal's main aims this season, namely to reverse their unconvincing form in the Champions' League.

Both Wenger and Ljungberg accept that Arsenal need to win Europe's élite competition if the club are ever to be labelled "great". Despite his usual modesty, Ljungberg must agree with his manager's assessment that the champions of England stand a far better chance with the dynamic midfielder back in the side? "I'm not sure about that," says the player, who is fronting a distinctly boring haircut these days, "but I'm just happy to be back."

Indeed he should be. It was on the eve of this summer's World Cup that Ljungberg fell awkwardly and damaged his hip. The injury, which had nothing to do with the fierce tackle and subsequent bust-up with his international team-mate Olof Mellberg, was so unusual that Wenger had never seen its like in over 30 years in football. It was also, more pertinently, an excruciatingly painful problem, which left Ljungberg unable to walk, even while out in Japan.

"I got the knock three days before the England game," says the man who plans to return to the Arsenal first team against Bolton next Saturday. "I played but actually had problems walking afterwards. Of course, I got a bit scared, particularly when I couldn't get an answer as to what was wrong." So why, you might ask, did he play on in the Far East? "As a player, there is only a World Cup every four years, so you are not really willing to go home. You try everything..."

Wenger sympathises with his player's desire to be part of the biggest event in football, but questions why Arsenal, who pay Ljungberg's wages whether or not he is on international duty, were never consulted about the injury. The Frenchman is equally puzzled as to why Arsenal have been left to foot the entire bill.

"It is very frustrating," Wenger says, before adding jokingly: "But, then, there are many people in the world who think it is right when Arsenal pay. At the moment, though, there are no official Fifa rules, so what can you do? Basically, if the doctors had made the right decision, Freddie would already have played for us this season."

Ljungberg, for his part, is more diplomatic when assessing potential culprits. He says the team management had decided that, should Sweden defeat Senegal in the quarter-finals, they would send him to Stockholm for further tests. In the event, the Africans won through and he returned to London, where the seriousness of the injury was immediately diagnosed. "I can't really answer [whether the Swedish FA are to blame]," he says. "It's always easy to be clever in hindsight, but I don't want to point the finger or look at the past. We actually did a scan in Japan, but it didn't show anything. Had that result been different, then maybe I wouldn't have played."

Ljungberg also accepts that tiredness might have been a factor. "I think it [the injury] must have had something to do with the long season," he says, "because I felt tired after all these must-win games that we had [in the run-in at the end of the campaign]. But I don't think that was the only reason."

While the mystery over the injury remains, there can be no doubts about Arsenal's poor form in Europe. Despite being seeded as a top-eight team, four participations in the lucrative Champions' League have yielded just one quarter-final appearance. Worse, they have won only two of their last 13 away games, in stark contrast to their unbeaten away run on the domestic front. "It's difficult to explain exactly why we haven't done well," Ljungberg says, "but I think it has had something to do with fear. We were a bit anxious, but we just have to go out and play like we do at Highbury."

Wenger is equally puzzled by the travel sickness in Europe. "You do not lose any of your matches here and then you lose them all away," he says. "It's enough to drive you crazy." Following the highs of last seasons at home, Ljungberg believes that the Class of 2002 now need to triumph in Europe to reach their apotheosis. "Yeah, we probably need to win the Champions' League to be called great," he admits. "All the players feel very frustrated with the underachievement of last season. The Premiership and the FA Cup were fantastic, but for people in other countries we will be more respected if we can do it in Europe."

Wenger agrees, not least because he is well aware of the club's financial requirements ahead of their proposed stadium move. "We have gained experience over the last few years," he says, "and we feel ready to do good things. I can tell you that the desire to win the Champions' League has risen greatly in this team. Now we want to deliver."