Arsene Wenger is quick to add fuel to friendly fire

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Aston Villa's Martin O'Neill has already described tomorrow's match in Berlin as "pointless" and relations between Liverpool and the Football Association are understood to be strained after England boss Fabio Capello ordered Steven Gerrard to report for duty to have his groin injury assessed.

Wenger has only one player, Theo Walcott, in the England squad but many other Arsenal players have been called up by their countries for the latest round of internationals.

To make matters worse for Wenger, Mexican striker Carlos Vela is due to play for his country in a World Cup qualifier in Honduras tomorrow and is not due back until hours before Arsenal travel north to face Manchester City in the League.

There are 29 international fixtures taking place tomorrow and Wenger said: "It is unwelcome at the moment because it is during a period when you want your players to recover a little bit. Next week, it is the Champions League, so the games are not very well positioned. We have some who will not even be back for Saturday.

"I don't see what you gain from these friendlies. You can explain a friendly to prepare for a competitive international but after this week there are no competitive internationals for four months."

However, Walcott does not agree with his boss. The Arsenal winger is one of only four recognised first-team starters left for the match in Berlin after the withdrawals of Gerrard, Wes Brown, Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole, Joe Cole, Frank Lampard, Emile Heskey and Wayne Rooney.

Walcott said: "The good thing about the friendlies is you can try different things. I only played in the Trinidad and Tobago friendly in the summer and I didn't expect to start in any qualifiers straight away so it just shows if you're training well, which I was, anyone can get a chance."