Mikel Artete set to risk Jurrien Timber Against Wolverhampton " as star back to Arsenal full training👇

     

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Timber sends dream Arsenal partnership hint to Arteta ahead of injury return

Mikel Arteta has been sent an Arsenal message by the injured Jurrien Timber with a hint being dropped on who he is excited to play with upon his return. After signing in a £38million deal from Ajax over the summer, Timber did significant damage to his ACL in the Premier League opener against Nottingham Forest and he is therefore not expected back until the final few months of the 2023/24 season.

In the following period, the Gunners suffered more problems at full-back with Thomas Partey, who began the season at right-back, picking up a number of injuries with his latest issue set to keep him out until the end of the year. Meanwhile, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu have also had to contend with injury this campaign with Ben White recently missing his first Premier League minutes of the season.

"Yesterday [Friday] in training he wasn’t comfortable," Arteta revealed after the Burnley win when asked to elaborate on White's absence. "He didn’t look right. But Ben won’t give you much. He always wants to be on the pitch and he wants to hide anything that is in there.

"But we highlighted something happening there that we noticed in the last two weeks as well. We wanted to protect him today. It was the right call from the physios and the medical department and tomorrow we will assess him and understand what’s happening."

Arsenal will be hoping both he and Martin Odegaard can recover from their respective injuries over the international break. The club captain has featured for just 10 minutes in the last five games in all competitions due to a hip issue and concussion, however football.london understands, while he continues to be assessed, it is expected he will return against Brentford.

There is however, understandable concern surrounding Gabriel Jesus after he was named in Brazil's squad despite missing the last few weeks with a hamstring injury. Despite training with his national team-mates, which includes Arsenal duo Gabriel Magalhaes and Gabriel Martinelli, he is not expected to play against Colombia tomorrow, as football.london understands.

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Instead Martinelli could find himself as the central striker away from his usual position on the left wing and while Arteta may consider deploying him down the middle for Arsenal, he has been sent a subtle positional message by Timber. Speaking to Premier League the versatile defender was asked to name Martinelli's best attribute with the Netherlands international praising the qualities undoubtedly best on show when played out wide.

“The best thing about Gabriel Martinelli is his skill, and he’s quick of course,” he said. Before his injury, Timber was playing at left-back and while he was often inverting there could certainly be chances for him and Martinelli to combine effectively later this season and the 22-year-old could play a pivotal role in the final months of Arsenal's season as he will likely feel like a new signing to Arteta.

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