Freddie in line for quick return

Arsenal received three pieces of good news when Jose Reyes, Freddie Ljungberg and Ashley Cole came through training ahead of tonight's clash with Chelsea.

If they have no reaction today, all are set to figure in Arsene Wenger's squad.

Left-back Cole has been out since the 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge in the first leg with a knee problem, while Ljungberg and Reyes were hurt in the FA Cup semi-final defeat against Manchester United on Saturday - midfielder Ljungberg has two broken bones in his right hand and forward Reyes suffered knee and ankle injuries.

Also in contention is Gilberto Silva, who missed Saturday's game through fatigue after his return from international duty with Brazil and may replace his compatriot Edu. Sylvain Wiltord, who has been absent from first-team football since December, could be on the bench.

Patrick Vieira said that the squad met on Sunday to discuss what they could learn from the Cup defeat.

The Arsenal captain said: "We talked about how fantastic it would be to go to the semi-final. We are not looking behind, just ahead.

"The club want to improve every year and going to the semi-final would be one step forward.

"It was quite difficult to come into training as we still had the Cup tie in our minds, but now we are focusing on this game."

Vieira added: "We expect Chelsea to be really compact in midfield and not give us any space.

"We will play our normal game and try to score but we will also want to be strong defensively and try not to concede a goal.