Mikel Arteta has revealed that Jurrien Timber is still "weeks away" from making his Arsenal return, while William Saliba is set for an extended spell on the sidelines.
Timber's recovery
The Dutchman missed almost the entirety of the final two months of last season, returning only to come off the bench in the Champions League final. Timber was then ruled out of the World Cup and underwent minor surgery on a groin injury over the summer.
The 25-year-old was in attendance at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon to watch his team-mates lose 3-2 to Borussia Dortmund in pre-season. However, while Timber is back on the grass in training and stepping up his recovery, a return to competitive action is not imminent.
"I cannot be very precise with that," Arteta said. "Jurrien is progressing really well. He's on the pitch, he's doing quite a lot right now. But he's still weeks away. I cannot tell you much."
Saliba's absence
Arsenal are further weakened in defence by the absence of William Saliba, who is expected to be out for a matter of months. While he does not require surgery on his back injury, Arsenal have confirmed that the centre-back will miss an "extended period".
"Wily is in rest mode at the moment," Arteta said. "For two weeks he had to do almost nothing, don't aggravate the injury. It's going to take some time to heal, we know that. As quick as we have more news, we can inform."
World Cup returners
It has been a disrupted pre-season for Arsenal due to the number of players they had at the World Cup. The mandatory three weeks that players get off over the summer meant that Arteta has had key stars return in different groups during pre-season.
The final crop will return to training this week, featuring the English and Spanish players. David Raya has already been back ahead of schedule and took part in the warm-up against Dortmund despite not being in the squad. Bukayo Saka also opted to return to the training ground over the weekend.
"Some of them were back today, watching the game," Arteta said. "Bukayo and David were [back] yesterday, a bit earlier than expected which is great to see. A really good sign. Tomorrow everyone will be available to start their training programme."
Premier League readiness
Arteta insisted he is confident that the late returners will be available for the start of the Premier League season in just under two weeks, though they will be managed carefully for the rest of pre-season.
"We have very different groups within the same time that they are coming back," he said. "Some of them have done more, some of them have done less, some of them almost didn't participate in the World Cup in terms of minutes. They are all at very different stages. I want to see as well the way they have looked after themselves. What they said they did and what they actually did and how they look, but I'm sure that will all be positive."
