Jurrien Timber and Martin Odegaard have both returned to full training with the Arsenal team ahead of the League Cup final against Manchester City.
Mikel Arteta wasn’t giving too much away on Jurrien Timber and Martin Odegaard during his pre-match press conference on Friday, with the injured duo both doubts for Sunday’s League Cup final.
But there were positive signs on Saturday, with the two players spotted in training photos with the rest of the squad.
Arteta had previously confirmed that Odegaard would be rejoining training this week, but Arsenal have still largely avoided featuring him in any training pictures or videos. Fans had to spot him in the background of one picture before the session.
There was also a slightly less positive hint earlier in the week, with Norway opting to leave Odegaard out of their squad for the upcoming international break.
Norway are only playing a couple of friendly matches, so the hope is that they’ve excluded him for the sake of allowing him some rest ahead of a busy few months for club and country. Even so, they clearly can’t believe he’s fully fit.
If the 27-year-old is fit enough to make Sunday’s League Cup final squad, he’ll probably start the game on the bench anyway. After a month out of action, he’s not going to be as sharp as someone like Eberechi Eze.
Timber’s situation is a bit different. The right-back has only been out for a week, having played against Everton last weekend. He’s also been called up by the Netherlands, so all the signs suggest he could easily make the starting lineup against Manchester City on Sunday.