Speaking before the visit of Everton on Friday, Mikel Arteta says Arsenal’s five injured players are ahead of schedule in their recoveries.

In their team news update earlier this week, Arsenal confirmed that they still have five players with various issues affecting their availability for match action.

Kieran Tierney and David Luiz aren’t back in training yet after their injuries, Alexandre Lacazette has a hamstring problem, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is still unavailable as he recovers from contracting malaria.

Martin Odegaard is the only one back in training, but he still hasn’t been passed fully fit for a return just yet.

Despite all that, Mikel Arteta says the five are doing well and appear to be on track for comebacks sooner than expected. Odegaard may even have the possibility to be involved against Everton.

“They are all doing really well to be fair, they are a little bit ahead of schedule,” Arteta confirmed. “We don’t expect them for Everton I think, we have a doubt with Martin a little bit, let’s see how he is today in training.

“The rest will be out and get them back in the team as quick as possible.”

According to the Arsenal update, Aubameyang should be back in training by the end of the week, Lacazette will be assessed ahead of next week’s matches, Luiz is hoping to join light training next week, and Tierney should rejoin training in two to three weeks.

The Europa League semi-final is the game we all really care about, and realistically, we can probably expect Odegaard back for the first leg against Villarreal, along with possibly Aubameyang and a small chance for Lacazette. By the second leg, Luiz is a possibility.

Tierney is probably out of both legs, but he may return not too long after that if all goes well. Certainly, the Europa League final in just over a month’s time no longer looks out of the question for the left-back, if Arsenal can make it there.