SAM Allardyce may throw his African Nations Cup stars straight back into action at Arsenal on Saturday.

El-Hadji Diouf, Abdoulaye Faye, Jay Jay Okocha and Radhi Jaidi are all on standby to start at Highbury.

But Kevin Davies looks likely to be rested as he struggles to shake off an ankle injury.

A private jet was due to deliver Diouf, Faye and Okocha from Egypt just hours after their African Cup of Nations campaigns ended.

Allardyce, who only flew into London on Thursday with the rest of his team from their five-day training camp in Dubai, was waiting to assess their fitness before deciding whether to play them at Highbury.

Diouf and Faye's Senegal lost 1-0 to Okocha's Nigeria in Thursday's third place play-off.

It has been a disappointing campaign for the three men who have had little action in the Egypt tournament.

Tunisian Jaidi is ready to step in at Arsenal after having all week back in Bolton to recover from his Cup of Nations campaign which ended early for last year's winners.

Their disappointment, however, is good news for Allardyce who hopes they will be fitter, fresher and more eager to play than they otherwise would have been.

Allardyce said: "Jay Jay hasn't played that much and we've noticed that Faye and Diouf haven't played in all the games so that may be of benefit to us when they come back.

"Hopefully they can get right back into the groove in terms of what you need to do to compete in the Premiership.

"I am tempted to put them in from the start because the small number of players I have had available in recent weeks have done a lot more than the African Nations players.

"That will be critical in the team selection when I will take into account the fact that we have Marseille on Wednesday, West Ham on Saturday, Marseille the following Thursday and Fulham the following Sunday.

"With that in mind it is crucial that the squad is coming together again.

"All credit to the players who have remained unbeaten while they have been away but I think even they are looking forward to the players coming back to give them a little break.

"Our arrangements were to immediately get the African Cup of Nations players back into London by private jet. Then we would assess their availability for the Arsenal game.

"With us having our own people over there, we're able to get them back into the country as quickly as possible.

"With such a busy period coming up, we are very grateful they will be joining us.

"Jay Jay has had an injury and has recovered from that, Dioufy had a knock and recovered from that, so hopefully there are no injury problems.

"It will be very nice to put a bigger squad together again, considering the number of games we have got coming up."

Diouf could replace Davies if the big target man fails to convince his boss he is fit for action at Highbury.

Allardyce said: "Kevin has not trained with the players in Dubai.

"His ankle is improving very quickly but if he declares himself fit I have to ask if he is one hundred per cent fit.

"I know he is going to want to play at Arsenal but if his ankle is not quite one hundred per cent, do I take that risk or do I save him for Wednesday and use some of the players I am getting back from Africa."