William Saliba, Jurrien Timber and Declan Rice have returned to the starting lineup ahead of Arsenal's clash against Wolves, while Leandro Trossard has been named on the bench. They have each had a spell on the sidelines, and Mikel Arteta will be hoping they can breathe new life into the Gunners' title hopes.
Saliba hasn't played since the end of November after suffering an injury in training. He's missed each of Arsenal's last three games in the Premier League, as well as the 3-0 win over Club Brugge in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday night.
Last week, Arteta doubled down when he was asked about the France international's situation, claiming he was only a matter of 'days' away from a return. Speaking to reporters at the Sobha Realty Training Centre on Friday, the Arsenal boss confirmed that Saliba's problem stemmed from the ankle issue he sustained in August.
"We have to wait and see," said Arteta. "Yesterday we didn’t train, so we have an extra day between this afternoon, let’s see if he can be available or not. It remains the same. If you asked me for the Everton game, I think he will be fit; for tomorrow, I don’t know."
The Spaniard added: "It was something quite small. It came from an ankle injury that he had and then he started to modify the way he was running and he started to overload an area, which is something common.
"But at some point he was uncomfortable continuing to be able to train and play and we had to stop it. He looks better but we'll have to wait and see if it's enough for him to be able to train with the team."
Then, on Timber, Arteta continued with the mind games. He said: "Again, depends how he feels today. It was a knock that he picked, and he wasn’t feeling comfortable. So again, I think it’s a matter of days, but whether it’s tomorrow or not we’ll see"
On Rice, he said: "Let’s see how he is today. He was ill, that’s an illness, normally in a few days it gets resolved, but we have to wait and see."
And on Trossard, Arteta said: "Again, another one that is a matter of days. It sounds boring, but it’s the reality, so we don’t know."
Rob Edwards' side are yet to win a game in the Premier League this season. On Wolves' form, the Gunners boss: "I know the manager really well and how he’s going to push and get the players ready to [try to cause a shock].
"From our side, we’re going to go full gas from the beginning and we know what we have to do," added Arteta. If Arsenal do not beat Wolves then Manchester City could leapfrog them in the title race.
The Spaniard said: "At the end, you’re going to have to have over 90 points probably to win it, so that means winning a lot of football matches and tomorrow we have three points that we have to earn."
On if Pep Guardiola's side are back to their best, Arteta said: "There are a lot of teams involved when you look at the table. We know the situation with other clubs as well.
"With Manchester City, it's always the case that you expect them to have the quality that they have, the experience that they have in the competition. The focus has to be on one."
