Five of Arsenal’s injured players returned to training this week, but individual decisions will be made on their readiness for Thursday’s friendly.
The Evening Standard report that injured Arsenal stars Gabriel Martinelli, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Mohamed Elneny, and William Saliba have all been involved in training with the main group this week.
The best news relates to Martinelli and Zinchenko, who are both described as “fit again”. It seems they’re the most likely to be involved in Thursday’s friendly against FC Nurnberg, if any of the recovering players are.
Arsenal are carefully increasing Saliba’s load following his return to training, so they won’t want to take any risks rushing him into action.
Tomiyasu has reportedly recovered well after his surgery in March, but there’s no word on when he’ll be available on the pitch.
As for Elneny, he’s apparently the furthest away from full-match fitness, having had knee surgery in January.
None of the five were involved in Arsenal’s friendly against Watford last week, but it seems at least two or three of them are on the verge of reintegration now.
Mikel Arteta will hope to have all five available by the time the season starts, and the fact they’re all fit enough to play at least some part in squad training is a good sign.
Any of the players not involved in Thursday’s game in Germany will hope to play a part on the tour of the United States later this month, with the squad travelling on Sunday.
After that, it’s back to England in August for the Emirates Cup, the Community Shield, and the start of the new Premier League campaign.
Arsenal’s Pre-Season Fixtures and Results
- Saturday, July 8th – Arsenal 1-1 Watford (Behind closed doors)
- Thursday, July 13th, 18:00 – FC Nurnberg vs Arsenal
- Thursday, July 20th, 01:30 – MLS All-Stars vs Arsenal
- Saturday, July 22nd, 22:00 – Arsenal vs Manchester United
- Thursday, July 27th, 03:30 – Arsenal vs Barcelona
- Wednesday, August 2nd, 18:00 – Arsenal vs Monaco
- Sunday, August 6th, 16:00 – Arsenal vs Manchester City
Times in BST