England's forward #17 Bukayo Saka celebrates scoring his team's third goal during the Qatar 2022 World Cup round of 16 football match between England and Senegal at the Al-Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, north of Doha on December 4, 2022.(Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Timeline set for Saka & Ramsdale’s return to Arsenal

Dec 13, 2022

England internationals Bukayo Saka and Aaron Ramsdale will rejoin Arsenal in training by the end of the week, according to a report.

LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 31: Aaron Ramsdale of Arsenal gestures to the back of their shirt after the final whistle of the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Aston Villa at Emirates Stadium on August 31, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images) — LONDON, ENGLAND: Aaron Ramsdale of Arsenal gestures to the back of their shirt after the final whistle of the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Aston Villa at Emirates Stadium on August 31, 2022. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

Arsenal’s World Cup internationals are slowly starting to trickle back into Mikel Arteta’s squad, with only William Saliba still in contention to win the tournament.

Arsenal confirmed on Sunday that Matt Turner, Ben White, and Thomas Partey had all returned to training with the Gunners.

Football.London then reported that Granit Xhaka, Takehiro Tomiyasu, and Gabriel Martinelli were all expected to be back in training this week.

At that point, there was still some uncertainty over when Bukayo Saka and Aaron Ramsdale would return, but Football.London now claim the duo will also rejoin training before the week is up – after having some time off.

It’s not clear whether Saka and Ramsdale will join the squad in Dubai or in England, but they’re on track to do so more than a week before competitive club football returns on December 26th.

Saliba will not be back by then, as he’ll remain at the World Cup until this weekend.

If France win their semi-final, Saliba will be at the tournament until December 18th. If they lose, they’ll still have to play a third-place play-off on December 17th.

France's defender William Saliba passes the ball during the friendly football match between France and Ivory Coast at the velodrome stadium in Marseille, southern France, on March 25, 2022. (Photo by NICOLAS TUCAT/AFP via Getty Images) — France’s defender William Saliba passes the ball during the friendly football match between France and Ivory Coast at the velodrome stadium in Marseille, southern France, on March 25, 2022. (Photo by NICOLAS TUCAT/AFP via Getty Images)

Arsenal’s 10th World Cup absentee was Gabriel Jesus, and he’ll obviously continue to miss out with his injury.

There are no guarantees on Emile Smith Rowe, but he’ll hopefully be back before the West Ham United match, and Oleksandr Zinchenko should have returned by then.