Arsenal are hoping to have three injured players back in time for their FA Cup match against Liverpool on January 7th, according to a report.

The Evening Standard report that Arsenal are hoping to have Takehiro Tomiyasu, Thomas Partey, and Mohamed Elneny available for their FA Cup game against Liverpool on January 7th.

All three injured players are set to head out on international duty in January, but they’re hoping to play a part for Arsenal one more time before they leave.

Simon Collings reports that the trio could even return sooner, and Partey is particularly close to a comeback, although he wasn’t in full training this week.

Another related bit of a good news is that Tomiyasu won’t be playing in Japan’s pre-tournament friendly against Thailand on New Year’s Day.

Japan are taking part in the AFC Asian Cup in January, with Tomiyasu set to be involved, and their first game is against Vietnam on January 14th.

But it looks as though Tomiyasu will be free to play for Arsenal against Liverpool before that, as long as he wins his race to full fitness.

As for the other two, the Africa Cup of Nations kicks off on January 13th, with Egypt and Ghana both playing their first games on January 14th, just like Japan.

Arsenal fans will be particularly interested in Egypt’s progress, as a run to the quarter-finals would rule Elneny and Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah out of the Premier League clash between the two teams in February.

Nottingham Forest could also be without as many as six players against Arsenal on January 30th, if they progress to the AFCON knockout stages.

The West Ham United match is much less likely to be affected by AFCON, but West Ham could be without Mohammed Kudus and Nayef Aguerd if Ghana and Morocco make it to the semi-final.

Said Benrahma (Algeria) and Maxwel Cornet (Ivory Coast) are potential lower-profile misses for West Ham. But again, it would require their national teams to make the semi-final.