Mikel Arteta has said Thomas Partey will return from injury for Arsenal on Monday but admitted he has fitness concerns over Gabriel Jesus despite the Brazil forward also being in contention to face Sheffield United.
Partey has not played for Arsenal since coming on as a substitute in the win over Manchester City at the start of October, after a setback in his recovery from a thigh injury last month. The Ghana midfielder resumed full training before last Saturday’s 4-1 win over Newcastle and is expected to feature at Bramall Lane, where Jesus is also set to return having been an unused substitute against Eddie Howe’s side.
Jesus has missed Arsenal’s previous four matches with a knee injury and Arteta said they would be managing his return with care.
“He’s fit enough. How long he will last, that’s something different. We didn’t want to take any risks after the result we had against Newcastle. We need him fit – he’s a massive player for us and now we want to make sure we load him in the right way.”
Asked whether he expected Jesus to need another operation in the summer after he missed the start of the season because of surgery, Arteta said: “No. I think that’s resolved, the first one. It’s a question more specifically for the doctors, but as far as I’m concerned that’s all been resolved.”
Oleksandr Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu will be assessed before Monday’s game against the Premier League’s bottom side as Arsenal try to make it seven successive Premier League wins. Arteta said Jurriën Timber was back in training as the defender completes his rehabilitation from an ACL injury sustained on his Premier League debut against Nottingham Forest in August.
“He is in a really good place,” he said of the £40m summer signing. “Now we have to manage him because he is in the last stage of that difficult injury and it is complicated but I think he is in the right way. You could tell that he was fitting in. He is really liked around the boys and he has been a big miss.”
