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Thomas Partey could return when Arsenal face Leicester City on Saturday and Mikel Arteta revealed Gabriel Jesus is “progressing well.”
Partey missed the Gunners’ defeat to Manchester City and the win at Aston Villa due to a muscle injury.
The midfielder, who has started all 18 of the league games he has been available for this season, may be back at the King Power Stadium this weekend, though, as the Gunners attempt to remain top of the Premier League table.
Arteta told reporters on Friday: “Thomas hasn’t trained much, but looks like he could be available. Let’s see how he trains today.
“He’s a really important player for us, hopefully he can be available.”
Jesus has been out since suffering a knee injury while he was on Brazil duty at the World Cup in December, but Arteta has provided an encouraging update on the striker’s recovery.
“He’s progressing really well. He’s doing more and more on the field and he’s not reacting [negatively], so that’s really positive,” Arteta said of Jesus.
“We want to have him as quickly as possible but also respect the timeframe we got from the doctor and the specialists. He’s really pushing the boundaries right now.”
Arsenal are two points clear of City with a game in hand after coming from behind twice to beat Villa 4-2 before the champions drew at Nottingham Forest.
Manchester United are only five points adrift of the Gunners, however, and Arteta does not believe it is a two-horse race for the title.
He said: “I think there are more teams involved and every day is going to be a race. Today it’s how we convince those players to train better, to play better against Leicester.
“We’re going to have to be really good to beat them, especially with the way they’ve been playing in the last few weeks.”
