Kieran Tierney gave many Arsenal fans cause for concern after lasting just 30 minutes against FC Nurnberg on what was his first appearance for the club in over 100 days.
The Scotland international missed the climax of the 2021/22 campaign after undergoing knee surgery back in April and had to frustratingly watch on from the sidelines as the Gunners were pipped to a top-four finish by bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur on the final day.
However, to hand Arsenal a huge boost going into the new season, Tierney revealed he was on course to be available for the start of pre-season training: "It's tough working full days in the gym on your own, but you've got to keep on pushing yourself. There's no point feeling sorry for yourself. I don't look for or expect sympathy from anyone," he said.
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"At the end of the day, I'm lucky to be a footballer — and I never take anything for granted. I'm a nightmare for the physios. I'm always on at them to get me back quicker. And I'm a terrible spectator. Not being able to do anything to help the team. I hate it. My target is to be back for the end of June and the start of pre-season at Arsenal. I'm on course for that. My rehab's going well."
Despite missing his target by a couple of days, Tierney provided Arsenal fans with a welcome sight by taking part in a full training session on Monday, July 4 - along with summer signing Gabriel Jesus - and he also travelled with the squad to Germany for a pre-season training camp.
The next step towards Tierney regaining full match sharpness was to take part in a game and he was handed a start against FC Nurnberg on Friday in a back-line that also featured returning loanees Hector Bellerin and Pablo Mari as well as promising youngster Reuell Walters.
In truth, it turned out to be a mixed first Arsenal outing in 111 days for Tierney as he looked a little rusty - which is understandable given the length of time he's been out for - but there were encouraging signs from him from an attacking sense as he delivered a few dangerous crosses into the opposition box.
With that said, there was a moment of concern in the first-half when the Scot was substituted right on the half hour mark. Of course, given his worrying injury record, naturally, some supporters feared the worst after seeing the left-back fail to complete a full half on his return to action.
Although it has been confirmed by Arteta that the decision to give Tierney 30 minutes was pre-planned: "Today it was a bit of a puzzle because some players could only play certain minutes. Kieran, for example, could only play 30 minutes and we wanted to give him the first 30 to have a good warm up after such a long time," the Spaniard revealed. "Others only 45, others again 30. So they go by what we needed.
After Tierney's withdrawal, Arteta initially turned to Cedric Soares as a replacement before handing Gabriel Martinelli an unfamiliar role at left-wing back in the second half and he impressed with an assist as the Gunners came from 2-0 down to win 5-3 with Gabriel Jesus grabbing a couple of goals upon his introduction from the bench.
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