DAVID PLATT may return for Arsenal at Villa Park tonight (live ITV, kick-off 8.0) as the Londoners try to rescue their season with a Wembley final.
The England captain, fit again after knee surgery, is the only ace up Bruce Rioch's sleeve as his side try to repair the damage of throwing away a two-goal lead in last week's League Cup semi-final first leg at Highbury.
Rioch is still without England's other skipper, Tony Adams, and his defensive partner Steve Bould for the game which the Highbury chief knows will have a huge influence on the verdict of his first year report.
Revealing the pressure building on him, Rioch admitted: "Everyone wants to win things, but at big clubs it is expected by everyone from the chairman to the players and supporters.
"At some smaller clubs, a semifinal and fifth place in the league is enough. But not here. Anything less than a place in Europe is not acceptable, and rightly so."
Platt has been out for a month and Rioch, who will not name his line-up until just before kick off, said: "All I can tell you is he has made good progress and has come through two or three reserve matches."
The £4.75 million signing from Sampdoria who scored an acrobatic flying header to give the Gunners a 1-1 draw on their Premiership visit to Villa Park in December, impressed behind closed doors against Coventry last week.
His presence in midfield, where Villa are missing energetic Tommy Johnson, could be crucial.
But home boss Brian Little believes the enforced change may help Villa cope better with Dennis Bergkamp, whose quick double strike looked to have booked Arsenal's Wembley passage until Dwight Yorke's two-goal reply.
"Not having Tommy is a major disappointment as he caused Arsenal problems," said Little. "But having a more orthodox three-man midfield could mean us getting closer to Bergkamp a bit quicker. We all saw what he can do in the first leg.
"Ian Taylor will not let us down. He makes longer and deeper runs than Tommy eve will and it's also a fact that when Ian plays, Mark Draper generally performs better."
Villa, also through to the FA Cup quarter-finals, have two priceless away goals which could count in their favour and have not lost at home in the competition in 21 games stretching back to Sheffield Wednesday's 2-1 win in November 1987.
Steve Staunton, retained ahead of Paul McGrath in defence to play his fifth game in 18 days since recovering from injury, said: "Arsenal are always a hard side to beat, and never more so than when the occasion is a major semi-final.
"Their season rests on this game if they are to win a trophy so they will go hammer and tongs at us, and although people say we are now in the driving seat it will still be tough.
"But myself, Andy Townsend, Mark Bosnich and Paul McGrath remember the feeling of winning the League Cup two years ago, and it would be great to go to Wembley and pick it up again."
Little added: "We are aware of how close we are to Wembley and also of what it would be like if things went wrong now. That's probably the biggest motivation."
Rioch, who admits the continued absence of Adams is a big blow, said: "I think it will be a completely different type of encounter to the one at Highbury.
"Villa may feel as if they have the psychological advantage, but they'll be all too aware that the hard work is still to be done.
"Whenever a tie is played over two legs, the most crucial game is nearly always the second we've known that all along."
Middlesbrough were yesterday backed by the Brazilian Football Association in their attempt to get a work permit for international full-back Claudio Branco (31). His move is in doubt because he has not played in 75 per cent of Brazil's games.
