Mikel Arteta says Arsenal aren’t likely to loan out Calum Chambers this month, insisting they want to give him chances when they can.

Over the last month or so, there’s been some speculation around Calum Chambers’ future. As a homegrown player, Arsenal have no motivation to ship him out for the sake of squad places, but he hasn’t been playing much at all.

This is to be expected, to an extent, after coming back from an ACL injury. But it raised the question of whether he might go out on loan this month.

“I don’t think that is going to happen,” Arteta said ahead of the weekend’s match against Southampton. “I am really happy with Calum. He has gone through a really difficult period. He has worked so hard.

“He has looked really good in the last few weeks in training. He is not even thinking about his knee right now. We want to give him minutes when we can because he is a player that we believe in.”

In recent weeks, it seems like Chambers has edged ahead of Shkodran Mustafi in the Arsenal pecking order. He made the squads to face Newcastle United in the FA Cup and Crystal Palace in the Premier League ahead of the German international.

All the same, his only two senior appearances of the season remain those Europa League group stage games against Rapid Vienna and Dundalk in December.

Given Arteta’s praise for the 26-year-old’s recent training performances, it’s very possible we start to see more of him in the coming weeks. The game against Southampton on Saturday is a good opportunity for another squad appearance, at least.