Mikel Arteta says Martin Zubimendi could be available for Sunday’s trip to Nottingham Forest after missing the midweek win over Lille.
The Spanish midfielder injured his ankle during the warm-down following Arsenal’s win over Leeds, having spent the game on the bench.
“Zubi looks much better,” reported the manager in Friday’s pre-game press conference.
“He already looks much better today, and we have another session tomorrow and after that we’ll assess whether he’s available to play against Forest. I’m very hopeful, but we have to see how this evolves.”
Speaking to Spanish radio station [Cadena SER](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ndbFzY7Nz5M), Mikel Merino revealed that he had accidentally caused the injury, but said his close friend was recovering well.
“He \[Zubimendi\] is fine, he had his ankle a little bit hurt due to an action with me and if there is anyone that doesn’t want to hurt him, it’s me but it was a freak accident in training but he’s fine, he is a bull and recovers quickly.”
Piero Hincapie, who also suffered an ankle knock during the same session, is expected to miss another couple of weeks. The Gunners have four games remaining this month before hosting Liverpool at the Emirates on 1 November.
“Piero is evolving really well as well,” said Arteta. “And knowing his character and the way he pushes everybody, I’m sure it’s not going to take long, I think. But he will need probably another week or two.”
Judging by Arteta’s comments, Christos Tzolis faces a similar recovery period after picking up a hamstring problem while on Interlull duty with Greece.
“Again, doing really well,” was the manager’s assessment. “Yesterday, we had another MRI scan to see how the injury is evolving. He’s progressing really well. He’s another one that hopefully we can have back in a few weeks.”
Arsenal’s only other absentee is William Saliba, who continues his recovery from a long-standing back issue.
The Frenchman also missed the club’s annual team photo this week because of a ‘medical appointment’.
Some Arsenal fans immediately jumped to conclusions (no change there!), but to allay any suggestions of anything untoward, Arteta said they’ll look to take the picture again with everyone present.
“What happened was that we have tried to do that picture three times already, and we had to cancel it at the last minute for different reasons,” he explained.
“We had some obligations, commercial obligations, we had people that flew over to do that, so we decided to do that picture.
“At least we’ll have another picture with the whole family. Hopefully, we can get them all together at some point one day, and we’ll announce that as well.”
Asked if Saliba’s is pleased they are doing the shoot again, Arteta said: “It wasn’t in his hands, but Willy, normally, he’s happy about everything. He knows how loved he is. They were taking some banter out him, the players, and he’s completely fine with that.”