Chelsea captain John Terry will return for the game against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday after two matches out through injury, manager Roberto Di Matteo said on Friday.
Fifth-placed Chelsea trail Tottenham by five points with nine games remaining in the race for a top-four berth and possible Champions League action next season.
Terry played two matches earlier this month after six weeks out with a knee injury but was then sidelined again.
Fellow defender Branislav Ivanovic is a major doubt for Saturday's game, with a thigh problem.
Tottenham winger Aaron Lennon, out since March 7, will miss Saturday's match while Emmanuel Adebayor, who last featured against Everton two weeks ago, remains a doubt.
"Lennon is training but at the moment he doesn't feel he's ready to play, so he's not available," manager Harry Redknapp told his pre-match news conference.
"Adebayor did a bit on Thursday so we'll have to see how he is, but I'm not sure he'll be fit tomorrow. Other than that we're not too bad."
Title challengers Manchester City are hoping captain Vincent Kompany will return after missing the 2-1 midweek win over Chelsea. Fellow centre-back Joleon Lescott was also absent and England defender Micah Richards deputised in the heart of City's backline.
"The manager will decide when and where I play and I will get on with it," said Richards ahead of Saturday's match away to Stoke City.
"It was really good that Carlos Tevez came back and that most people got right behind him. He can be inspirational and I am sure that like all the players he will have his say between now and the end of the season," added Richards.
Tevez played his first City match since late September after falling out with coach Roberto Mancini and set up the winning goal with a deft pass to Samir Nasri.
Injured Manchester United defender Nemaja Vidic, who is out for the season, says replacement Jonny Evans has performed admirably in his absence and could be key for their title chances.
"Jonny has been playing really well in the last few games," said Vidic on the club's website.
"It's good for the team to have stability at the back and is the way to win the title. I think they [United's young defenders] are doing very well. If you look at their age and the expectation we have from them, it wasn't that high, but they turned out to be important players for the team."
United host Fulham on Monday.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger wishes his team could have more competitive action during the run-in despite the London club climbing the table after a poor start to the season and having no fresh injury troubles.
"We have time to recover between games now. I felt that the period was even a bit long between Newcastle and Everton so you lose a bit of an edge off the competition sometimes,"
