Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Mesut Özil have both returned to full training this week and should be available for selection very soon.

Arsenal revealed on the club website that both players have now joined up with the squad again after recovering from their injuries.

Özil had a back spasm before Arsenal’s win over Fulham, but it clearly wasn’t anything too major, as he’s now fit and raring to go again. The international break came at just the right time to give him a rest, considering the playmaker retired from national duty earlier in the year.

Meanwhile, Maitland-Niles has been out of action ever since the first day of the season. He suffered a small fracture to his left fibula against Manchester City but has now recovered to join Özil and the rest in full training.

Neither will find it easy to walk straight back into the team, after such a strong performance against Fulham. Özil is probably Arsenal’s biggest talent in the squad, but in a 4-2-2-2 he’ll have to compete with Mkhitaryan for a place.

Torreira and Xhaka have nailed down the sitting midfield two in the Premier League, so Maitland-Niles may have to earn chances through the other competitions. He’s returning at the right time to do so though, with a couple of group stage matches and a cup tie against Blackpool coming up in the next month.

Hopefully, both come back strong and ready to give their all for Arsenal.