Cesc Fabregas could well be fit to face Barcelona in the Nou Camp in the return leg of our Champions League clash. The skipper probably won't play in Saturday’s game at home to Sunderland after picking up a hamstring injury against Stoke but his programme notes for the FA Cup win over Orient last night hint at a comeback in the Catalan capital.

He said: "I am running, getting better and don’t sense any pain. We’ll see how the next few days go. Perhaps I’ll have a chance for Saturday. We’ll take things day by day. I knew I had to come off against Stoke. I know when I can play. We have many games coming up so I couldn’t afford to stay on and lose three weeks rather than seven days."

After the 5-0 thumping of the O's, AW has had his say ahead of the mouth-watering game up at Old Trafford against Manchester United in the next round. He said: "Of course I enjoy this rivalry because it shows that we are in the race. I enjoy that. We are in the title race and we will give absolutely everything because that is our biggest objective.

"It is the most important because you win the league after 38 games and you win the Carling Cup after five, six games. It will be interesting until the end of the season. Every games is a cup game now. We had one tonight. We will have another one on Saturday."

And AW reckons Chelsea's 2-1 win over United sets up the title race nicely. He added: "For us, it keeps us even better in the race. It just depends on us. It's down to our results. I say that for a long time, it depends how consistent we will be with our results. That will decide the championship.

"I know that we play Man United at home and we will see where we stand when we play against them but what is important for us is that we are strong at home. We have been on a very good run. If we maintain our consistency, we have a very good chance."

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has played down expectations that Thomas Vermaelen could return from injury in the coming weeks urging that the centre-back should not be put under any pressure to rush back.

The Belgian star has not played for the Gunners since the match with Blackburn Rovers on August 28th; a spell on the sidelines which has now surpassed six months.  Damaging his Achilles on international duty, the 25-year-old has had a number of setbacks during his rehabilitation and was forced to go under the knife at the beginning of the year in an attempt to rectify the problem once and for all.

Speaking about the Ajax acquisition, Wenger told the Arsenal official matchday programme ahead of last night's FA Cup replay with Leyton Orient:

“The latest of Thomas Vermaelen is that we have to be patient.

“I don’t want to put him under any pressure, and anyway, we are in March now, and he has not played since September so it will take him a while to get back a competitive level.”

In his absence Johan Djourou and Laurent Koscielny have forged a solid pairing at the back, while Sebastien Squillaci and young Spaniard Ignasi Miquel have provided back-up.