Billy Whizz and other sporting superheroes

With Arsène Wenger publicly bemoaning his players' lack of height and Arsenal's weakness against set-pieces apparent for all to see, William Gallas and Kolo Touré could do without being asked to mark a muscular, all-action centre forward straight out of a Marvel comic.

Step forward Givanildo Vieira de Souza, a Brazilian universally known as “Hulk” because of his likeness to the alter ego of that fictional physicist, Dr Bruce Banner.

The striker acquired the nickname while playing for Tokyo Verdy in Japan, with the combination of his barrel chest and the club's green shirt leading fans to call him “the Incredible Hulk”, but the phenomenon has taken off since signing for Porto this summer. The 22-year-old has his nickname on his shirt and is listed as Hulk in Uefa's official Champions League statistics and on his club's official website.

The 5ft11in forward is expected to start on the bench this evening, with Lisandro López, the Argentina striker, likely to lead the line, but if the Brazilian does come on, Gallas and Touré could be in for a bruising encounter.

For all his frustration at the three goals Arsenal have conceded from set-pieces in the Barclays Premier League this season, with Geovanni's powerful long-range shot for Hull City on Saturday the only other occasion on which Manuel Almunia has been beaten, Wenger is determined to stick with his first-choice centre backs. Alexandre Song remains out with a hip injury and Mikaël Silvestre is yet to make his debut for the club after joining from Manchester United in the summer.

“It is not only in the centre backs where we are short of height,” the Arsenal manager said. “I am thinking about the total size of the team. At Bolton, I put Song in for this reason. The corner against Hull can happen. It was a well-taken corner that came in at full power; it deflects. That can happen, but the corner against Bolton and the one against Fulham cannot be allowed to happen. We have worked on balls in the air, but if you put us against a basketball player who is two metres five [about 6ft 9in] tall, it is difficult to catch the ball.”

Touré insists that lack of height is not necessarily a problem for a centre back and that his team-mates are determined to make amends for their poor performance in a 2-1 defeat at home to Hull.

“[Roberto] Ayala isn't the tallest, but he's a top defender,” Touré said. “[Fabio] Cannavaro isn't the tallest, but he was the best player in the world two years ago. I'm taller than him, so it's not about that. Porto are champions of Portugal and I'm sure they will try to win, but this is the chance to put Hull behind us and show we're still a good side.

“We really need to do something this season. Everybody is talking about winning a trophy to show that great football brings you trophies.”