Ben White and Christian Norgaard were back in first-team training today ahead of Saturday’s clash with Nottingham Forest.
Sky Sports footage showed the pair being welcomed with backslaps from teammates, while new loan signing Piero Hincapie got the traditional tunnel treatment on his first session at London Colney. There were also pats on the back for Mikel Merino after his Interlull hat-trick for Spain.
After sitting out games for Italy and Spain’s under-21s, respectively, Riccardo Calafiori and Cristhian Mosquera were also present.
Arteta will be pleased to have White and Norgaard available again after their recent knee issues, but William Saliba, Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz were conspicuous by their absence.
Saliba is rumoured to be facing a month on the sidelines, which would see him miss the next five fixtures. Saka was ruled out for four weeks at the end of last month, so, fingers crossed, he could be back for next week’s trip to Manchester City. Havertz, who underwent a knee procedure two weeks ago, is still expected to be out for another six weeks.
Elsewhere, Gabriel Jesus continues his long recovery from January’s ACL surgery. He wasn’t named in Arsenal’s Champions League group stage squad, which looks a clear sign he’s still some distance away from a return.