Arsenal’s Jurrien Timber is hoping to finally return to Mikel Arteta’s squad for a match this weekend, with Bournemouth visiting the Emirates Stadium.

The Evening Standard report that Jurrien Timber is hoping to make his first-team comeback against Bournemouth at the Emirates Stadium this weekend, with the Gunners playing at 12:30 BST on Saturday.

Timber has been unavailable for selection by Mikel Arteta since the first game of the season, due to his ACL injury, but he’ll be assessed this week ahead of a potential return.

Arteta reportedly believes that Timber’s return will aid Arsenal’s attack, despite the player primarily operating in the back four.

The defender has already played twice for the Arsenal u21s since returning from injury, completing 45 minutes and scoring last Monday against Blackburn Rovers before playing 70 minutes against Liverpool on Sunday.

70 minutes in the tank for Timber 💪

Check out his best bits from #AFCU21's win over Liverpool 👇 pic.twitter.com/ttdxUmJT2n

— Arsenal Academy (@ArsenalAcademy) April 29, 2024

Timber featured at left-back on both occasions, suggesting that’s where he’s likely to slot in once he returns to the first-team lineup.

The Arsenal u21s had other players available to play at left-back if necessary, so it wasn’t an enforced positional change.

Jakub Kiwior, Oleksandr Zinchenko, and Takehiro Tomiyasu have all had a go at left-back for the first team in Timber’s absence, but none of them have completely nailed down a starting spot.

“It’s been eight months, to be honest I stilll don’t really know how to feel,” Timber said after his return against the Blackburn Rovers u21s.

“Just being out there feels amazing, but even now it feels strange. I feel happy and blessed to be out there and it’s nice to score a goal as well.

“I can’t wait (for a first-team comeback). The season is almost finished, we have a couple more games, and the boys have been texting me already. It’s going to be fun, I think.”