Mikel Arteta hailed Mohamed Elneny as the midfielder returned from injury a month ahead of schedule to help Arsenal seal top spot in their Europa League group with a 1-0 win over FC Zurich on Thursday night.

Arsenal knew going into Thursday’s game that they just needed to win – or match PSV result against Bodo/Glimt – and they would top the group and avoid the fate that befell Manchester United – an extra game against a Champions League drop out in February.

When Arsenal announced their starting lineup, it was somewhat surprising to see Elneny’s name listed as a starter given that he was supposed to be out for 12 weeks.

Although we knew he was back in training, it seemed like he might need more than five days to get ready to start again.

Not so, it seems.

Arteta played Elneny for an hour and the midfielder seemed to come through it all unscathed.

“He was really good,” Arteta said after the game.

“He’s been out for eight weeks, we expected him to be out for 12 weeks, he had an amazing recovery, he’s a guy that has been pushing everybody around the training ground to be ready as quick as possible and today I think he competed really well.”

Elneny completed 29 of his 20 attempted passes (97%), made one block, one interception and four blocks.