Arsenal are without goalkeeper David Seaman against Aston Villa with the groin injury which ruled him out of the Champions League tie against Roma.

Rami Shaaban is set to deputise, as he did in Rome, while Arsene Wenger also has a doubt over Ashley Cole, who faces a fitness test on Saturday an ankle injury.

Oleg Luzhny has been declared fit despite having only passed a late fitness test on a hamstring injury to play in midweek, although Kolo Toure is also available after being suspended in Europe.

Dennis Bergkamp is set to return after being rested in midweek, but Martin Keown may not start despite being in the squad after recovering from hamstring trouble, and Lauren, Kanu and Ray Parlour are still ruled out.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has warned his players not to allow their title challenge to be undermined by verbal outbursts at referees.

Wenger believes Patrick Vieira has learned from being banned for two games for insulting referee Andy D'Urso at Stamford Bridge and has held him out as a role model for his team-mates.

However, Ashley Cole could also be hit with a similar charge by the FA as Paul Durkin is said to have reported him for an 'insulting and offensive' outburst after the final whistle at Southampton last weekend.

The FA have not yet made any announcement as to whether 21-year-old Cole will be charged and Wenger did not wish to pre-judge the case.

"I've heard that he's been reported by the referee. I have not asked Ashley what he said, but maybe I can guess. He is not suspended though so, before we make a trial, we have to be careful," he said.

As a general rule, the Arsenal boss can find it easier to forgive players who are sent off for mistimed tackles, as Sol Campbell was at St Mary's, than those who swear at officials.

"What happened to Sol was unfortunate. He went for the ball, the guy stayed in front of him and he pushed him," he explained.

"That happens, it's part of the game. But what you can avoid, you want to avoid.

"I never encourage my players to be negative with referees. I always tell them that. You always have to be polite and respectful to a referee."

Wenger nevertheless realises that a complete vow of silence is not only unrealistic but could also work against his team in some instances.

"The ideal situation is not to talk to the referee but it doesn't always work like that on the pitch," he declared.

"You sometimes see the games on television, where you don't even need a lip-reader to see what the players say. "Some are punished and some are not punished. Most of them are not punished. As for saying nothing at all, it always depends when and what you say.

"Referees need feedback from their decisions as it keeps them informed. When someone says 'I didn't touch him, he dived' and it happens three times, the referee might think he's right."

Meanwhile, Gareth Barry will lose his ever-present tag for Aston Villa this season as he has to serve a one-match ban for incurring five bookings.

The England Under-21s captain has tried to add more aggression to his game and he has committed more fouls than any other player during the current campaign.

Central defender Ronny Johnsen is optimistic of being fit after missing the 4-1 win over West Ham with a thigh strain.

Aston Villa manager Graham Taylor is urging his back-on-song England striker Darius Vassell to look and learn from master craftsman Thierry Henry.

Vassell is beginning to put a difficult post-World Cup spell behind him after a series of niggling injuries.

The signs were more encouraging last weekend when he showed his usual pace and power to score Villa's final goal in a 4-1 success over West Ham.

But Taylor believes Vassell can improve his all-round game from studying the performances of Henry, who will spearhead the Gunners attack at Highbury.

Henry showed his pedigree yet again by scoring a hat-trick in the midweek Champions League triumph in Rome.

Taylor said: "This week in Europe you have seen two world-class strikers in action with the way Ruud Van Nistelrooy performed for Manchester United against Basle on Tuesday and then Henry 24 hours later against Roma.

"Henry is first class and on Wednesday you saw a player who had full belief in himself - and who better for our own Darius Vassell to learn from?

"You should never be too big to learn from other people and Darius can learn from how Henry plays. If you look at the pace and power of Darius then Henry has that as well.

"But he also has little other things like when the opposition have the ball are attacking where does Henry go? He doesn't stand in the middle with the centre-half. He drifts off out wide.

"It is an interesting one because it is from down the flanks in open play that he causes so many problems.

"If Darius can take things on board that are beneficial for him, then fine, but I am also hoping that his performance against West Ham is one he can build on for the rest of the season."

Teams:
Arsenal (probable) : Shaaban, Taylor, Cole, Luzhny, Toure, Volz, Campbell, Cygan, Keown, Stepanovs, Tavlaridis, Vieira, Edu, Gilberto, Ljungberg, Pires, van Bronckhorst, Wiltord, Henry, Bergkamp, Jeffers.

Aston Villa (probable) : Enckelman, Samuel, Mellberg, Johnsen, Staunton, Wright, Leonhardsen, Taylor, Hendrie, Hitzlsperger, Dublin, Vassell, Angel, Postma, Allback, Crouch, Kinsella, Moore.

Referee: Graham Barber
Graham Barber has survived on the Premiership list since 1996, gaining promotion just two years after making it on to the Football League rota in 1994. The 44-year-old is a sales consultant by trade and lives in the great commuter belt known as Surrey.

He began his career in the London area, taking charge of matches in Kingston before climbing the ladder to the FIFA referee's list in 1998. Barber was short listed for Euro 2000, but just missed out on the cut after refereeing two of the competitions qualifiers. His highest profile match in English football was as linesman, sorry, referee's assistant during the 1994 FA Cup final.

Barber has officiated in World Cup qualifiers and various international, not to mention some Champions League and Uefa Cup matches. He is an extremely experienced referee, with European pedigree. He was top of the discipline list during 2001/02, dishing out 78 yellow cards in his 22 matches.