Four of Arsenal’s injury absentees are nearing returns in the next few weeks, according to a report, though Bukayo Saka’s comeback is expected to take a bit longer.
Sam Dean reports for The Telegraph that Ben White, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Riccardo Calafiori, and Ethan Nwaneri are all believed to be nearing returns in the next few weeks.
Dean adds that Bukayo Saka’s absence is more long term, and he’s likely to be out until March. Even so, the report suggests Saka is expected to return in time to make an impact in the final part of the season.
Saka was spotted without crutches over the weekend, having been using them as recently as last Wednesday, so he seems to be making progress. Hamstring surgery just isn’t something you can shrug off without a couple of months on the sidelines to recover.
There have rumours that White is now back out on the training pitches with the team, so his comeback shouldn’t be far off. It’s good to hear that Tomiyasu is also closing in on a comeback, given the limited information available about the length of his injury.
Those two comebacks would take a lot of pressure of Jurrien Timber, who is effectively having to play every minute for Arsenal at the moment. Given his ACL injury last season, it’s not ideal to be giving him such a heavy workload.
Calafiori is yet to really get a run of games going with Arsenal, and he may find it more difficult now that Myles Lewis-Skelly has established himself at left-back. But that’s a good thing for the team, as Mikel Arteta won’t have to rely too much on either one of them.
As for Nwaneri, the academy graduate briefly appeared to be Arsenal’s best answer to Saka’s absence before his own injury. He’ll give the Gunners a rare left-footed option on the right wing until March, as well as an alternative to Martin Odegaard in the middle.
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