Arsenal hope to have Martin Zubimendi available for their trip to Nottingham Forest on Sunday, while Piero Hincapie, Christos Tzolis and William Saliba are all progressing well.
Zubimendi missed Tuesday’s Champions League win over Lille after suffering an ankle injury in a training session held immediately following the victory against Leeds last weekend. Mikel Merino has since revealed he was responsible for that, after Zubimendi picked up the issue in a "freak accident" with his compatriot in a small-sided game on the Emirates Stadium pitch.
Late decision on Zubimendi
Scans on Monday revealed the injury was not serious, and Mikel Arteta will make a late decision on Zubimendi's fitness ahead of the trip to the City Ground this weekend.
Hincapie also suffered an ankle injury during that same session, which was believed to be more serious, with the defender spotted being piggy-backed off the pitch by goalkeeper Illan Meslier. Hincapie was expected to be out for "weeks", ruling him out of upcoming matches against Forest and Bayern Munich.
Positive recovery signs
However, Arteta insists the Ecuador international is recovering well and will be pushing to return in the next fortnight. "Piero is evolving really well," the Arsenal boss said at his pre-Forest press conference on Friday. "Knowing his character and the way he pushes, I'm sure it's not going to take long. But he will need probably another week or two. Zubi looks much better and we have another session tomorrow. After that, we will assess whether he's available for Forest."
Arteta is also optimistic that winger Christos Tzolis is not too far away from a return from the hamstring injury he suffered while playing for Greece during the recent international window. "[Tzolis is] doing really well," he said. "Yesterday, he had another MRI scan. He's progressing really well, another one that hopefully we can have back in a few weeks."
Saliba step up
There was a similarly positive update on William Saliba, who recently resumed working individually back out on the grass at Arsenal’s training ground as he steps up his recovery from a serious back injury sustained at the World Cup that has seen him not available yet this season. "Next week, we have another MRI with him to see how the healing process is at the moment," Arteta said. "Every sign so far has been very, very positive."
