Villa boss Martin O’Neill expects to welcome Stiliyan Petrov and Luke Young back for Saturday’s trip to Arsenal but is less confident over the fitness of John Carew.

Carew missed Sunday’s 2-1 defeat against Middlesbrough with a hip problem and is up against the clock to recover in time to face the third-placed Gunners.

The news on Petrov and Young is more positive, however, after they too were absent from the Boro game.

Petrov’s hamstring problem sidelined him for a third straight game while right-back Young suffered a thigh injury in the build-up to the visit of his former club but both are likely to be in contention.

“John went for scans on Tuesday and saw the specialist yesterday,” said O’Neill. “Those scans have been pretty good ones but he is still feeling discomfort at the front now, so he is seeing a specialist.

“It is a problem that has been coming on. He has certainly exacerbated it in Prague. We were hoping it would be okay but it seems to have caught up with him at the moment. We are trying to do everything to get him ready.

“Petrov and Luke Young are making good progress. I would be hoping that this week, with some training for both of them, they will be in contention.”

Questions have recently been raised over the height of the Gunners’ rearguard but O’Neill insists the absence of towering forward Carew would not come as more of a blow in this game than any other.

“I have never really thought about it like that,” he said. “I think Arsenal are capable of competing. Away from home we will get space and we know how to find it, but the thought of John is not the first in my head.

“If you mean William Gallas, he is a top quality player and defender. It wouldn’t matter if he was 5’11” or 6’7”, he is a top class player, as are the other defenders.

“I think a lot has been made of it because they didn’t defend the corners and throw-ins very well against Stoke. I think it is more about what we do.”