Arsenal hope to have Takehiro Tomiyasu, Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny available for the FA Cup third round clash with Liverpool.
The trio are currently out injured but progressing well and hope to play on January 7 before they head off on international duty.
Elneny and Partey are due to be at the Africa Cup of Nations with Egypt and Ghana respectively, while Tomiyasu will be at the Asian Cup representing Japan.
Elneny has been out since last week after injuring his hamstring against PSV Eindhoven, Partey has been absent since October due to a thigh injury and Tomiyasu injured his calf at the start of December.
While the target is the visit of Liverpool in early January, they could return sooner with Partey, in particular, close to a return.
The midfielder did not take part in full training on Wednesday, but he is itching to get back.
Arsenal are taking on Liverpool in a top-of-the-table Premier League clash on Saturday, before playing West Ham and Fulham before the end of the year.
Partey has been named in Ghana’s provisional 55-man squad for the Africa Cup of Nations and manager Chris Hughton must cut that to 23 by January 3.
The 30-year-old is confident he will be ready for when the tournament in Ivory Coast begins on January 13, with Ghana in action the following day when they take on Cape Verde.
The Asian Cup, which is taking place in Qatar, will begin on January 12 and Japan start their campaign two days later against Vietnam.
Japan are playing a friendly against Thailand in Tokyo on New Year’s Day and will meet to train for four days prior to that.
Tomiyasu, however, is not part of the squad for that. Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma has also been left out due to the friendly clashing with Premier League games.
