Arsenal can reclaim third place in the Premiership when Stuart Pearce's in-form Manchester City visit Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night, but, more pressingly, a victory should all-but guarantee UEFA Champions League football.
The Gunners ended a four-game winless streak with a 2-1 win over Bolton on Saturday, and another victory on home turf would take them one point above Liverpool and eight clear of Everton and Bolton with four games to play.
However, City have pulled clear of the relegation battle following a five-game unbeaten run and have only lost once in their last seven games away from Eastlands.
Arsene Wenger has lost Swedish international Freddie Ljungberg to a hamstring injury, so Julio Baptista or Jeremie Aliadiere could be brought into the starting XI in a support role for Emmanuel Adebayor.
French youngster Abou Diaby is also an option if Wenger opts to leave Adebayor as a lone striker and employ a five-man midfield.
Otherwise, The Gunners have no new injury concerns with forwards Thierry Henry (stomach and groin), Robin van Persie (metatarsal) and Theo Walcott (shoulder) all long term absentees.
After scoring his first Premiership goal of the season against Bolton on Saturday, Cesc Fabregas will again be looking to display the qualities that have seen him make the shortlist for the PFA Player of the Year award.
Arsenal will also be encouraged by the fact they will be able to field their first choice back four of Emmanuel Eboue, William Gallas, Kolo Toure and Gael Clichy for the fifth game in succession.
A Joey Barton penalty separated the sides in August as City claimed their first win of the season and their first ever Premiership victory over The Gunners.
City boss Pearce has a doubt surrounding Emile Mpenza as the Belgian striker suffered a hip injury in the 0-0 draw with Liverpool and had to be substituted.
Mpenza has impressed at Eastlands in recent weeks but if he fails to prove his fitness then the door could be opened for either Georgios Samaras or Bernardo Corradi to start in North London.
My prediction: 2-2
City are no easy touch away from home, but Arsenal should have too much for the visitors.
Player to watch: Cesc Fabregas
gunners 3 Tomas Rosicky (12), - 1 citeh DaMarcus Beasley (41)
Francesc Fabregas (73),
Julio Baptista (80)) - ...
good win for gunners...
Somehow they can score when there is less pressure on them.
Arsenal edge City at Emirates
Arsenal defeated Manchester City 3-1 at Emirates Stadium to go third in the Premiership table, albeit possibly temporarily with Liverpool in action on Wednesday.
Arsene Wenger's men took the lead on 12 minutes through Tomas Rosicky, only for DaMarcus Beasley to pull City level just before half-time.
Cesc Fabregas finally fired The Gunners back in front with 17 minutes remaining and the win was wrapped up with Julio Baptista's goal seven minutes later.
The victory almost certainly seals Arsenal's place in the next season's UEFA Champions League, with an eight-point gap on their nearest challengers.
Arsenal were their usual flowing selves early on and after Beasley saw a shot blocked by Kolo Toure, Rosicky opened the scoring in similar fashion to his equaliser in the win over Bolton at the weekend.
Abou Diaby battled to win the ball back before playing in Emmanuel Eboue down the right. The full-back's cross should have been dealt with by Nedum Onuoha, but the City stopper was napping at the back post, allowing Rosicky to nip in and beat Andreas Isaksson with a neat finish.
Diaby was forced off not long after having suffered a head injury, with Baptista coming on in his place.
Baptista was quickly into the action and won a free-kick just outside the City area. The Brazilian took control of proceedings and his effort looked to be heading goalwards until a vital intervention from Richard Dunne sent the ball over the top.
Isaksson had to make a firm stop from Fabregas' drive from distance, before City equalised with what was their first real attack since the opening five minutes.
Jens Lehmann's clearance was straight at Joey Barton and City capitalised to level things up. Michael Johnson's through ball from the edge of the box was perfectly weighted for Beasley and the American winger finished first-time into the bottom corner to make Lehmann pay for his mistake.
Sensing Lehmann was low on confidence, Barton curled an attempt towards Arsenal's goal which should have produced a routine save, but the German keeper flapped at the shot and unconvincingly diverted the ball away for a corner.
City started brightly following the restart, with Johnson and Beasley again linking up well and the latter crossing for Sun Jihai, but the Chinese defender, in an unfamiliar forward position, was unable to make the desired connection.
After City's early domination in the second-half, Arsenal began to enjoy the majority of possession, with City happy to play on the break, and Barton's shot from the edge of the area was easily gathered by Lehmann.
Emmanuel Adebayor latched onto Fabregas' brilliant ball over the top and forced a fine stop from Isaksson at his near post from a tight angle, and moments later Alexander Hleb's left-footed effort flew across goal.
Adebayor had two great chances to put Arsenal ahead as The Gunners stepped up their game a notch in the final quarter of the game.
First, the Togolese front man saw a shot blocked by Sylvain Distin after the ball was pulled back to him by Rosicky, before rising highest to meet Hleb's cross, only to be denied by Isaksson down low.
Arsenal finally beat Isaksson for a second time on 73 minutes as Fabregas netted his second goal in as many games.
Rosicky gave possession away on the edge of the City box but the ball dropped to the Spanish starlet and his brilliant volley from 25 yards left Isaksson with no chance of making the save.
Beasley had the ball in the net, but the goal was rightly ruled out for offside, and with ten minutes remaining, Baptista added a third.
Hleb picked up possession on the right-hand side and ran at Michael Ball into the City box, only to lose the ball, however, there was Baptista inside the area to poke past Isaksson and secure victory.
Georgios Samaras could have set up an exciting finish but wasted a glorious chance as he shot straight at Lehmann, while Eboue sent Arsenal's final effort way off target from a tough angle.
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