Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta says Takehiro Tomiyasu is “very close” to making his comeback.
The Japan international has not played since returning from the Asian Cup last month as he has been troubled by a calf injury.
Arsenal were boosted by the returns of Gabriel Jesus and Thomas Partey for their 6-0 win over Sheffield United.
And Arteta has hinted that they could soon have Tomiyasu back too, with Arsenal’s next game at home to Brentford on Saturday.
“He’s very close,” said Arteta. “He is already doing something on the grass and hopefully we are going to have him with us very soon.”
Tomiyasu’s return would be a major boost for Arteta, who will look to ease Partey back into action.
The midfielder has been out of action since October with a thigh injury, but made his comeback on Monday night with 25 minutes off the bench.
“Thomas is available now to play a certain amount of minutes and he needs to build that,” said Arteta.
“It was his first minutes after four months, which is a long time. And like everybody you have to earn the right to play the minutes.
“We believe that today it was the best option [to name an unchanged team], at least to start the game.
“We had a long period of nine days after Newcastle so we had the time. Now it is going to be very different as we have another game and then Porto so we are going to have to manage the minutes of everybody.”
