Arsenal have welcomed no fewer than three players back to the training pitches ahead of Saturday's Premier League encounter with Leicester City at the Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners kicked off the 2022-23 season in perfect fashion courtesy of a 2-0 win at Selhurst Park, with Gabriel Martinelli and a Marc Guehi own goal coming either side of the half-time whistle.
Mikel Arteta has not been without his injury problems in the summer months and was at risk of being without Emile Smith Rowe, Kieran Tierney, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Fabio Vieira for the contest.
Arteta revealed in his pre-game press conference that three of the group would participate in training before the game, without naming any names, but only Tierney was fit enough for a place on the bench.
Arsenal could potentially head into Saturday's first home game of the season with a fully-fit squad, as Tomiyasu, Smith Rowe and Vieira were all pictured in training on Wednesday.
Emile Smith Rowe has returned to Arsenal training at London Colney today following his recovery from a groin injury.
— afcstuff (@afcstuff) August 9, 2022
So good to see you again, @emilesmithrowe! 👋 #afc pic.twitter.com/BEmf3tlodR
Smith Rowe was already expected to miss the trip to Selhurst Park due to a groin injury, while Vieira has been dealing with foot and ankle injuries since arriving at the club from Porto earlier this summer.
The Portuguese playmaker is therefore yet to make his debut for Arsenal but could do against the Foxes this weekend, with any minutes likely to come from the bench.
Meanwhile, Tomiyasu was a frequent occupant of the treatment room last season, but he returned to play 45 minutes for the Under-21s in their 3-1 win over Manchester United at the weekend.
The 23-year-old was restricted to just 21 Premier League appearances last season - 20 of which came from the first whistle - and he missed a further 13 top-flight games through injury.
In Tomiyasu's absence, Ben White filled in at right-back against Crystal Palace, with William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes pairing up in the heart of the backline.
© Reuters
White performed well against Wilfried Zaha for the most part, and Saliba put in a man-of-the-match performance on his competitive debut, so Tomiyasu could also take his place on the bench this week.
New signings Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko also impressed on their competitive debuts for the Gunners, but Mikel Arteta is still hopeful of welcoming new faces to the club before the summer window shuts.
""We are going to try. If we can do them, great. But now it's work with the players we have, the focus should be with the players we have," Arteta told Sky Sports News at Selhurst Park. "You need the right balance because if you come short in terms of physicality in this game, you're going to be exposed.
"The most important thing is to win the first match, to build confidence and momentum. Then you can talk about things we need to improve - there were quite a few today, to be honest."
A new midfielder is now thought to be Arteta's priority, but the Gunners are supposedly prepared to wait until 2023 to try to sign Youri Tielemans, who has entered the final year of his contract with Leicester City.
Ben Knapton
