Mikel Arteta thinks Shkodran Mustafi and Cedric Soares will be available for selection as Arsenal travel to Manchester City on Wednesday.

ST ALBANS, ENGLAND - MARCH 01: Shkodran Mustafi and Nicolas Pepe of Arsenal during a training session at London Colney on March 01, 2020 in St Albans, England. (Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
ST ALBANS, ENGLAND – MARCH 01: Shkodran Mustafi and Nicolas Pepe of Arsenal during a training session. At London Colney on March 01, 2020, in St Albans, England. (Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

Despite the recent injuries to Sead Kolasinac and Lucas Torreira, Arsenal are actually in a pretty good position with injuries at the moment. The likes of Kieran Tierney and Cedric Soares are closing in on a return under Mikel Arteta, and Shkodran Mustafi also looks to be shaking off his recent knock.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Arteta responded to a question about Soares and Mustafi specifically.

“I think they will be available to play,” Arteta said. “Hopefully everybody’s able to train tomorrow and [we’ll] pick the squad the best players we can.”

Getting Soares up to speed is proving more important than first thought. Hector Bellerin is struggling with a groin problem, Ainsley Maitland-Niles is out of favour, leaving Sokratis Papastathopoulos as a starting full-back.

That’s not ideal, so getting the January loan signing in could make a real difference.

The centre-back position is looking pretty good at the moment, by comparison. Pablo Mari and David Luiz started at the weekend, as did Sokratis (albeit at right-back). Rob Holding is available, so with Mustafi, that’s five options for two positions.

Meanwhile, Tierney’s return offsets the loss of Kolasinac until the end of the month. Between the former Celtic man and Bukayo Saka, Arsenal shouldn’t have any problems at left-back.