Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor has been rated a slight chance of returning to the fray this weekend against Aston Villa after suffering an ankle injury two weeks ago and goalkeeper Manuel Almunia has improved after a knock to the head last week against Manchester United.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger was hopeful about the availability of the duo.

"We will assess the situation of Adebayor on Friday," Wenger told Arsenal TV. "He is 50-50."

"We have to assess Almunia too. He got that knock on his head against Manchester United and until now we have not exposed him.

"He has to go into a normal [training] game to see how he deals with it. So he is 70-30 at the moment."