Villarreal will entertain Arsenal at the Estadio El Madrigal in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal hoping to put behind them the 3-0 defeat to Almeria at the weekend.

Arsenal will be without their top striker this season, Robin van Persie, who has 16 goals to his name. He has been ruled out with a groin injury suffered on international duty, but the good news for Arsene Wenger is that Theo Walcott, plagued for months by a knee problem, has been declared match fit.

Further absentees for the Gunners are Eduardo (groin) and Abou Diaby (thigh), who will also miss on the sight seeing tour to Spain.

Villarreal themselves will not be hosting this encounter in the best possible spirits. To add injury to the insult of losing to relegation-threatened Almeria, winger Santi Cazorla broke his leg and will miss the rest of the season.

Unperturbed by the defeat and Cazorla's injury, Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini was positive that his team can do the business. He remains convinced that Arsenal were the inferior side the last time both teams met in the semi-final of the 2005/06 Champions League, and he is sure that this is the case this time around as well.

"I didn't think Arsenal were favourites three years ago and nor, in the event, were they the better side," Pellegrini said, quoted by uefa.com. Arsenal prevailed by the slimmest of margin that time, Kolo Toure's sole goal in the match in London being enough to send the Gunners through to the final, which they lost to a rampant Barcelona.

"That result, particularly the goalless draw in the second leg, still leaves a bitter taste because we went out despite outperforming them. There is a huge difference between the two clubs in terms of wealth, let's not lose perspective," Pellegrini said.