BRAZIL captain Gilberto has no intentions of quitting Arsenal and intends to remain "100% professional" as he attempts to win back his place at the heart of Arsene Wenger's side.
The 31-year-old was by some way the oldest player in last night's youthful team which drew 1-1 draw in the first leg of their Carling Cup semi-final at Emirates Stadium.
Gilberto - a World Cup winner in 2002 and part of the Invincibles side which won the Premier League crown unbeaten - admits it has been somewhat uncomfortable watching from the outside this season, with only 11 starts and nine appearances off the bench.
The consistent form of Cesc Fabregas and Mathieu Flamini in central midfield has restricted the Brazilian's opportunities.
However, despite reported interest from the likes of Juventus and Valencia, the South American remains determined to stay.
"This is what I have in mind, to get back in the team and hope I can achieve that as soon as possible," said Gilberto, who has more than a year left on his contract.
"But I know the team is playing well and so are the guys in my position, especially Mathieu.
"I will do my job, and I did that again against Tottenham which was another good opportunity for me to show that I am capable to come back into the team.
"At the moment, I prefer not to think about moving and to fight for my position."
Gilberto's stance is remarkably different from that of unsettled Frenchman Lassana Diarra, who only arrived at Arsenal from Chelsea in August but now may be allowed to leave.
And veteran keeper Jens Lehmann could yet move to Borussia Dortmund to give himself the chance of regular first-team football ahead of the European Championships.
But Gilberto feels he cannot approach his situation any other way.
"It is quite easy to manage the situation when things do not work as they want, but for some people it is quite hard, it is difficult to understand," he said.
"It has been quite bad for me to look at Arsenal playing so well from the bench - but I try to be very positive every day at the training ground and to fight.
"I go there, do my job and be 100% professional, as I always have been and try to return to the team.
"You have to respect everybody, be professional and wait for your chance to come again."
Gilberto added: "The important thing for me at the moment and what makes me very strong is my family.
"When I am at home, I can get a balance. I play with my kids and am with my wife, I can forget everything about my job with the football.
"I have found this is the way to manage the situation at the moment at to look forwards.
"I have experienced very hard things in the past and so why not manage things the right way at the moment?"
Denilson, 19, made it an all-Brazilian pairing for Arsenal in central midfield last night and has settled well into the Gunners squad after his move from Sao Paulo in August 2006.
Having come up through the international youth ranks, he now hopes to get a chance with the senior team.
"Hopefully (Brazil coach) Dunga will look at this game and see that we can play together," he told Arsenal TV Online.
"I am working very hard and I hope next season I can get in the national side. I am progressing well."
After Theo Walcott's late equaliser against Spurs, Arsenal remain very much still in the tie but they must score at White Hart Lane in a fortnight to have any chance of making it to Wembley and a second successive appearance in the Carling Cup final.
The Gunners have not lost to their north London rivals now in some 21 clashes and came back from 2-0 down in the first away leg of last year's semi-final.
Denilson said: "It will be a good experience for us - but we have a good team and we must show that now. The memory of last season will help us.
"I am very proud of the team. The Carling Cup is very important to everyone and we must now focus on the game against Tottenham.
"We know that Arsenal have not lost in so many games against Tottenham and that is a fantastic record."
Wenger, meanwhile, has several injury concerns ahead of the Barclays Premier League leaders' home clash against Birmingham on Saturday.
Defenders Johan Djourou (groin), Philippe Senderos (knee) and striker Robin van Persie (thigh) will have to be assessed, along with Walcott (ankle).
Emmanuel Eboue, Kolo Toure and Alexandre Song are all away at the African Nations Cup.
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Wenger hopes the recurrence van Persie's thigh problem would be "minor", but revealed the Dutch forward will miss the Birmingham match because of a flu virus.
The Gunners boss will, however, have to make changes at the back.
"Djourou is out but Senderos has not been completely assessed by the medical staff yet. We will know more about him on Friday," Wenger told Arsenal TV Online.
"The options are those who played last night, or Gilberto or [Bacary] Sagna. So we have players. Everyone else is all right."
