Ljungberg, Gilberto both ruled out

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LONDON, England -- Arsenal's Sweden midfielder Freddie Ljungberg has joined Brazilian Gilberto as an absentee for Saturday's Premier League game with Newcastle United.

Ljungberg had been expected to end a six-week injury absence due to a calf problem when Arsene Wenger's side take on Newcastle, three days before their Champions League clash with Hamburg at the Emirates Stadium.

But Wenger told reporters on Friday: "Freddie's out. He practised today and I nearly wanted to pick him, but he'll practise to be available for the squad on Tuesday."

Gilberto has returned to Brazil for family reasons and will fly back on Sunday. Wenger was non-committal over whether the midfielder would be fit for Tuesday's game.

"It depends how he will be physically and mentally," Wenger said. "He had to pull out of the Brazil squad in Switzerland and he has not trained all week."

Fellow-Brazilian midfielder Julio Baptista is fit again after injury and goes into the squad as Arsenal seek to build some real momentum in the league.

Last weekend's convincing 3-0 home win over Liverpool, which hoisted them up to third in the table, followed a London derby defeat at West Ham United.

Though his side have a game in hand on the top two clubs in the standings, they are seven points behind champions Chelsea and 10 points adrift of Premiership leaders Manchester United.

"We have proven since the start of the season that we have quality but quality alone doesn't make a champion," said the Frenchman. "It's consistency. Gathering our resources in every game is our target now.

"I feel we have improved a lot since the start of the season but now it's down to how much can we get to our best in every game. And that will make the difference in the next two or three months."

Wenger still believes Arsenal can have their say in the title race, but is not counting on any sudden dip in performance by United or Chelsea.

"We mustn't speculate about any weakness on their part," he said. "The only calculation we can make is to win our game in hand and beat them in direct confrontations. There is also the fact that they have to play each other."

As for being there in the final run-in, he said: "I feel we have the potential to do it. It's a question of how consistent we can be and that starts tomorrow.

"It's important to score first against smaller teams and we haven't managed that against Everton, Middlesbrough and Aston Villa -- and that's basically what punished us," he said.

But with one eye on lowly Newcastle, he added: "It has hurt us so much that this team will not be caught again by playing within themselves in one of these games."

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