As Villarreal departed Highbury late last Wednesday, their fury with the referee Konrad Plautz tempered by relief at still being in the tie, their coach Manuel Pellegrini said: "The second leg will be different." Which, of course, it must be if the Yellow Submarine are to reach a final that Juan Roman Riquelme last night described as vital if they wish to prevent their magnificent campaign from being forgotten altogether.

Villarreal will certainly be different on one level. They had two central defenders and their goalkeeper missing at Highbury. Tonight their back four will have a more familiar look about it. Gonzalo Rodriguez has not recovered in time, but Bolivian centre-back Juan Manuel Pena passed a fitness test yesterday and Sebastian Viera returns from suspension to take over from Mariano Barbosa in goal.

At the other end Jose Mari also looks set to play. Seven likely starters were rested during the 2-0 defeat by Real Sociedad on Saturday - hardly surprising after Pellegrini lost his centre backs in a league game on the eve of the first leg.

Viera has particular motivation on his return, as the memory of a foiled move to Highbury still smarts. "I am not bitter," he insists, "but I don't forget."

Before he joined Villarreal from Nacional de Montevideo this Christmas, the goalkeeper was on the point of joining Arsenal only for a six-hour medical to detect an injury he considers an irrelevance. "They said I wouldn't play football again, but I already knew what was wrong with me the day they did the medical," he says. "I have a problem with my hip. I have had it my whole life, but I have spent 20 years throwing myself on the floor and I never had any problems. Can't play football? What a load of rubbish."

Superb in Uruguay, Viera has looked uncertain in Spain, and Arsenal will surely be aware of his tendency to punch rather than catch. And this is the man bought during the winter transfer window precisely because the handling of the 21-year-old Barbosa worried coaching staff at the club.

But while Viera and Pena will give Villarreal greater solidity than at Highbury, and much as the improved fitness of club captain Quique Alvarez is a huge boost, their return does not herald a major change. Not least because it has been balanced out by the absence of the tough, hugely experienced former Juventus midfielder Alessio Tacchinardi.

What it does is give them a base from which to play the way they have throughout the tournament - cautiously. Trailing 1-0, Villarreal need to score at least once at El Madrigal tonight but Arsene Wenger should not expect a revolution, nor an onslaught - this is a side of few surprises.

"We will not change our style," Riquelme vowed yesterday. "If we do things the right way the gaps will open up."

Villarreal's returnees will help, but the key to their improvement lies in liberating Riquelme. He more than anyone else was their most costly absentee at Highbury, barely seeing the ball.

Tonight his side must help to get him back in possession, to deliver that deadly pass.

Then they must avail of it.

Small wonder Pellegrini had his whole squad undertaking shooting practice yesterday: Villarreal have not scored twice in a match since March 4th. That result would not suit tonight; 1-0, for now, would and Villarreal will not go mad looking for it.