Arsenal hit by Seaman injury

Arsenal will rule goalkeeper David Seaman out of their Charity Shield game against Manchester United later today after tests on his injured calf muscle.

The England veteran could need at least four weeks rest for the injury which occurred less than a minute before the end of a pre season friendly in France. The Premiership side drew 1-1 with AS Monaco but attention after the match centred on Seaman as the club's defence looks set for a major overhaul in the run up to the new season.

Seaman pulled a muscle while kicking the ball and collapsed in pain and had to be carried from the field.

His luck in friendlies is very poor and he broke an ankle while kicking the ball in May 1997 on a tour of the Far East with the London club. Arsenal had French star Emmanuel Petit facing more disciplinary trouble to add to his three dismissals from last season when he was 'invited' by referee Eric Poulat to leave the field after a blatant show of dissent which was out of step with this low key training encounter.

The injury to Seaman is of more concern to the Arsenal club as they remain entangled in the Nicolas Anelka transfer saga. His on-off move to Italy has stalled any attempts to sign new talent for the squad which is now facing serious injury problems. The club are trying to seal the £10 million capture of Thierry Henry but Marc Overmars and Dennis Bergkamp will miss Sunday's game against United while captain Tony Adams underwent surgery last week on a double hernia problem which could see him miss the first two months of the season.

Seaman's direct replacement Alex Manninger is also recovering from injury. He suffered a dead leg in a training incident.

England play Luxembourg and Poland in Euro 2000 qualifiers at the start of September and Seaman is a doubt for those matches after last night's injury.