SAM Allardyce paid tribute to the few remaining Wanderers players who have kept the White flag flying since the New Year.

Wanderers go into tomorrow's FA Cup fourth round tie with Arsenal, kick-off 5.40pm, with just 14 fit men.

But the boss knows that while his squad may be small, its heart is big enough to stretch the Gunners all the way.

With four players away on African Nations Cup duty and three more injured, Wanderers face a mighty battle to overcome Arsenal the way they did in the league earlier this season.

Allardyce admits that the qualities which have been stripped from his side by injuries to Gary Speed and Henrik Pedersen, and African Nations Cup duty for El-Hadji Diouf, Jay Jay Okocha, Abdoulaye Faye and Radhi Jaidi have been severe.

But the way the few first teamers he still has standing have set about maintaining the positive momentum has filled the manager with pride.

He said: "All credit to the few players we have here.

"I can't praise them enough for what they have achieved in the time that the African Cup of Nations players have been away, and the injuries and suspensions we have had.

"We have scraped through by the skin of our teeth because of the excellent attitude and performances of the players that are left behind. But there is no doubt that we are in desperate need of a couple more bodies.

"Of the 11 players I select tomorrow, a lot of them are not going to be going out there 100 per cent fit but I know that because it is the fourth round of the FA Cup and because it is Arsenal they will give their very, very best.

"They will give as much as they can and we just hope that's going to be good enough against a side which, if it hits top form, it will be very difficult to get a result.

"The players we have left here have done remarkably well to stay fit and produce the performances that they have done.

"Watford away was an outstanding performance against a very good Championship side. We came away with a comfortable nil-nil draw with 10 men for a period against a Blackburn side which had won eight out of 10 home games. And then they produced an inspired performance against a Manchester City side which had just beaten their old rivals Manchester United 3-1 and we completely dominated them from start to finish.

"If they can continue that form then it makes life much easier to cope with hugely difficult circumstances we are working under at the minute.

"Were not training. Were only recovering, massaging and, basically, tickling the players along because we're worried that if we tried to do any serious training we might get contact injuries.

"We simply cant afford to leave ourselves open to that situation happening so we are cotton-woolled all the way and, fingers crossed, it is working.

"The difficultly lies in that the next two weeks is huge in terms of game-load on the players.

"We have two games a week with Arsenal, Portsmouth, Wigan, Birmingham, Arsenal. So its going to be a massive test for the small squad of players that we have got."

One player who is available to return tomorrow is Hidetoshi Nakata who is expected to come straight back into the side if Khalilou Fadiga fails to recover from the injury which forced him off during the victory over Manchester City.

And Nakata has to take his chance if he is to convince Allardyce he is worth turning his current loan deal into a permanent transfer.

Allardyce admits that his priorities lie elsewhere at the moment and any money that may be made available would be spent on other targets.

But a deal could be done in the summer if Nakata proves himself capable of making a big impact on the Premiership between now and the end of the season.

A deal for Deportivo La Coruna defender Cesar is in the balance. Despite a La Coruna spokesperson reported to have said Cesar will be joining Wanderers shortly, a deal is still some way from being agreed.

Allardyce said: "There have been difficulties with the overall negotiation of it, but if a deal is a possibility we will try to move it forward."