Arsenal are increasingly confident their Carabao Cup semi-final second leg with Liverpool will go ahead on Thursday.
Doubts had arisen over the fixture after the Gunners were successful in their request to have last Sunday's Premier League derby against Tottenham Hotspur postponed.
The authorities agreed for the game to be called off due to Arsenal having players unavailable as a result of injuries, positive coronavirus tests and Africa Cup of Nations duty.
Temporary Premier League rules state if a club has fewer than 13 outfield players and one goalkeeper available, and COVID infections are a factor, then they can have their request for a postponement granted.
There was a fear on Monday that Arsenal may also ask for Thursday's visit of Liverpool to be postponed for a second time.
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However, reports on Tuesday suggest the Gunners are optimistic the game will go ahead given there have been no further coronavirus cases and players are returning from injury.
Arsenal midfielder Martin Odegaard is likely to feature after missing last week's first leg due to a positive COVID test while Kieran Tierney, Calum Chambers, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel - who all played in the match - are expected to be fit.
Arsenal and Liverpool were initially scheduled to meet at the Emirates for the first leg a fortnight ago only for the game to be postponed due to a suspected COVID outbreak at the Reds which prompted their training ground to be closed for two days.
It meant Jurgen Klopp's side had to give up the advantage of playing the second leg away, with the first leg instead being played at Anfield last week which ended in a goalless draw.
Similar to Liverpool and a host of other Premier League clubs, Arsenal have been hampered by international absences, injuries and COVID cases in recent weeks.
Thomas Partey, Mohamed Elneny, Nicolas Pepe and Omar Rekik are all at the AFCON in Cameroon although Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was this week sent back to Arsenal after a health scare.
Granit Xhaka will miss Thursday's game through suspension having been sent off in the first leg, while Arsenal have agreed to loan Pablo Mari to Udinese until the end of the season.
The Gunners have this month responded to their selection crisis by recalling Tyreece John-Jules, Nikolaj Moller and Miguel Azeez from loan spells.
Liverpool will be without AFCON trio Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita, while Thiago Alcantara and Harvey Elliott are injured and Nat Phillips is recovering from a fractured cheekbone.
The Reds are waiting to assess the ankle injury suffered by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on Sunday against Brentford, while the game is likely to come too soon for Divock Origi who returned to running on the pitch last week after six weeks out with a knee problem.
