Serge Gnabry made his long-awaited return from injury on Monday.

Despite making a brief appearance earlier in the season, the German has been sidelined for the guts of a year with a knee injury the club were very secretive about.

Turning out for the under-21’s as they defeated Newcastle United 2-1 on Monday, the wide-man is being eased back into action as Arsenal look to avoid problems with the injury like that which clearly happened after his first return.

Speaking to Arsenal.com after the game, Serge was obviously delighted to be back with 65 minutes underr his belt.

Gnabry said

“I’ve been training with the first-team squad.

“I want to get back playing with them as soon as.

“I’ve had two weeks of training behind me, I’ve had my first game and I’m feeling good. I’m not in pain anymore so [I’ll return] as soon as, hopefully.

“I’m feeling good. I’m feeling much better than I did in October. It’s been a long time for me, a rough time – about 11 months – so I’m just happy to be back out there and I feel good.

“I’ve just got to keep pushing. Training’s very important but obviously I haven’t played in three or four months and I’m still a bit rusty. I hope it gets better with with the more games I get.”

It’s not clear yet when Gnabry will be reintegrated back into the matchday squad, but with so many options available to him, Arsene Wenger has the luxury of being able to do it as slowly as possible.

Makes a nice change.