Mikel Arteta confirms two Arsenal stars are "far" from injury return

The Gunners are dealing with a number of squad issues as they enter the second half of the campaign.

Mikel Arteta has provided fitness updates on three Arsenal players.

Fans hoped to see Oleksandr Zinchenko make his return for the Gunners in their FA Cup clash against Liverpool on Sunday. With Takehiro Tomiyasu leaving for the Asian Cup, Jakub Kiwior is the only left-back at Arteta’s disposal.

The Spaniard sounded optimistic when asked about Zinchenko’s possible return against Liverpool: “He’s progressing well.

We have another training session tomorrow, and I will evaluate whether he’s available or not to play and start the game.”

The updates on Jurrien Timber and Fabio Vieira are less promising, as both players are completing lengthy rehab processes.

Arteta added on Vieira: “The first signs are good but he’s still a bit far from what we wanted. He needs to keep working and hopefully, in the next few weeks, we can have him.”

The news of Timber, who’s out with a knee injury, was similar: “Unfortunately, that’s a very long-term injury. He’s doing really well, but he’s still very far from being fit to train with the team.”

Despite being included in Ghana’s squad for the Africa Cup of Nations, Thomas Partey is also expected to stay sidelined for the coming weeks.

“He’s been trying to push his rehab and he really wanted to be with his national team,” the Arsenal manager added. “But obviously he’s still far from training with the team and it didn’t make a lot of sense to be involved.”