Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal may eventually look back on their troubled campaign and realise it was the defining moment which built a great side.

The Gunners head in tomorrow night's Premiership clash at Aston Villa with only the battle for third place and Champions League qualification left to play after a shocking fortnight which ended hopes of silverware for another year.

The dust had barely settled on the fall-out from defeat in the Carling Cup final when the Gunners were dumped out of first the FA Cup and then saw European dreams ended by PSV Eindhoven last Wednesday night.

Nevertheless, Wenger believes such a test of character and adversity — particularly on those so young — can only serve to make you stronger in the long run.

"You will look back and think you cannot be completely happy because you do not win everything — but maybe in the future we will look back at this season and think that is where we built a real team for the future. That is what I hope," said the Arsenal manager.

"I also believe that we have never produced so many consistent performances over a season. But I feel in the end it is difficult to take because we have played 17 games over December and January, which caught up with us a bit physically in February - especially the two FA Cup replays.

"They killed us a bit for the Champions League, combined with the fact that we had so many players out. It was all a bit too much."

Arsenal will have Czech midfielder Tomas Rosicky back in the squad at Villa Park tomorrow following a length lay-off with a groin injury.

However, full-back Gael Clichy is suspended and so joins Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Eboue and Emmanuel Adebayor, who are all serving bans.

Captain Thierry Henry will not play again this season after aggravating groin and stomach muscles in the game against PSV last week.