Takehiro Tomiyasu is back in training and working on making a return to the Arsenal starting lineup, but Wednesday’s match could come too soon.

Speaking ahead of Arsenal’s Premier League clash with Liverpool, Mikel Arteta confirmed that the Gunners are trying to push Takehiro Tomiyasu to make his comeback, but they’re also being cautious after what happened last time.

“We have been trying to push him, but with the handbrake a little bit because we need to be careful,” Arteta said.

“We don’t know [if tomorrow is too soon]. Let’s see how he trains.”

Tomiyasu initially started struggling with a calf problem around the turn of the year, but he made his return in the League Cup semi-final against the same opponent – Liverpool.

It turned out the right-back had come back too quickly, and he ended up suffering a setback. When he returned again, on the bench against Brentford in February, he subsequently injured his other calf.

Arsenal are certainly going to be keen for Tomiyasu not to go through another round of rejoining the squad for one game only to miss the next few weeks.

Before the Leicester City game, Arteta gave his thoughts on Tomiyasu’s situation more generally.

“He needs to be consistently training for a period [so] that we can minimise the risk of having another recurring injury in the same muscle because it would be something to worry about and we have to stay away from that,” Arteta said.

“He had a calf injury and after that, he had a really quick recovery, we play him, maybe too quick I don’t know.

“He had a recurring injury there and then he felt it again one day when he was back in training with us so yes, disappointment because he has been really important.”