Hold the press: an Arsenal player – Alex Iwobi – could be on schedule to return when Arsene Wenger initially predicted.

Arsenal players aren’t exactly known for returning from injury on schedule. Quite the opposite. So the fact that it looks as if Iwobi could be fit enough to return after the international break, as Wenger hoped, is mind-boggling for Gooners.

The only player I can remember returning early from injury is Olivier Giroud when he broke his foot.

Some seem to think that Iwobi is returning early. However, recently the boss did say that he was aiming for after the international break, which would be the Southampton game at the Emirates.

“[Iwobi and Ramsey] are progressing well,” he said.

“Will it be immediately after the break [that they are back]? That’s what we’ll have to see in the next two weeks.”

Everything therefore appears to be going to plan. It just seems odd because we’re not used to it. I’m unsettled.

Iwobi tweeted on Thursday that he was ‘putting a shift in’ in training for the ‘next match’. Obviously, he could just mean the next match he plays in general.

https://twitter.com/alexiwobi/status/771375724418703360

Let’s hope he’s back for the Southampton clash, eh?