Dagenham v AFC Wimbledon preview

Dagenham v AFC Wimbledon preview

Published Feb. 22, 2013 7:15 a.m. ET

Arsenal are without full-backs Bacary Sagna and Kieran Gibbs, but January signing Nacho Monreal is available to return against Aston Villa at Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

Monreal sat out the Bayern defeat after playing for Malaga in the Champions League group phase and he will likely replace Thomas Vermaelen at left-back, while Carl Jenkinson should come in on the right for Sagna, who is out with a knee injury.

Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker were paired together against Bayern and could start alongside each other again, while Olivier Giroud is pushing for a recall up front.

Aston Villa playmaker Charles N'Zogbia has recovered from the thigh injury suffered during the closing stages against West Ham in time to be fit.

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Striker Gabriel Agbonlahor and midfielder Karim El Ahmadi are also available after illness ruled them out of the 2-1 win against Sam Allardyce's side.

Defender Chris Herd (foot) is also poised to return to training next week but winger Marc Albrighton (foot) and defender Richard Dunne (groin) are still ruled out.

Dagenham boss John Still once again has the luxury of a fully-fit squad.

The Daggers have enjoyed a quiet season on the injury front, a far cry from last term when their survival bid was dogged by the sheer number of those sidelined.

Physio John Gowens told the club's official website: "This season has been very quiet in the treatment room, especially when you consider all the injury troubles we had last season.

"Luckily we haven't had anyone out of action for a long time which of course is very good news. I would say this season is one of the quietest seasons we have had since I have been at the club.

"A lot of my time has been spent with players who have had more serious injuries in the past, we have those players on rehabilitation programmes which really benefits the players."

AFC Wimbledon will be without the services of Peter Sweeney.

The midfielder, a January signing from Bury, suffered a suspected broken toe early on during the 1-1 midweek draw with Northampton and has been ruled out.

Boss Neal Ardley will have to make a further change to his starting line-up after winger Toby Ajala returned to Bristol City at the end of his loan spell.

On-loan striker Paul McCallum has also returned to parent club West Ham having failed to shake off an ankle injury in time to play what would have been his final game for the Dons.

Full-backs Jim Fenlon (back) and Curtis Osano (hip) and centre-half Will Antwi (hip) are still on the sick list.

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