Mikel Arteta has provided the latest Arsenal team news ahead of the Premier League clash against Bournemouth.
It has been an impressive start to the 2022/23 campaign for the Gunners following wins over Crystal Palace and Leicester City, and the past week or so has provided even better news on the injury front with several senior players getting some much-needed minutes under their belts.
Last weekend saw Takehiro Tomiyasu and Emile Smith Rowe make second half substitute appearances in the victory over the Foxes, whilst the Arsenal no.10 along with Cedric Soares and summer signing Fabio Vieira featured for the u21s against Swansea City on Wednesday evening.
READ MORE: Arsenal press conference LIVE: Mikel Arteta on Pepe's future, Vieira's fitness and Bournemouth
Looking ahead to Saturday's trip to the South Coast and Arteta has revealed that he has a near fully fit squad and that the aforementioned trio are available for selection.
"Everybody’s OK," the Spaniard told reporters when asked for a team news update. "As you saw we had Cedric, Fabio and Emile playing with the u21s. They played with us and are available for selection."
As a result, Fabio Vieira has moved one step closer to making his senior Arsenal debut following his £34m summer transfer from Porto, although if included in the matchday squad it's likely he will be amongst the substitutes given his lack of game time since arriving at the club.
This means the sole absentee against the Cherries is Reiss Nelson after his muscular injury was confirmed last week: "Things that happen, he felt something in training, we scanned it, and the doctors came with some bad news," Arteta revealed. "It's a muscular injury, and hopefully, he will be back soon."
Amid claims that Nelson could be out of action for up to a couple of months, Arteta insisted that no return date had been set for the winger: "Not yet," he added when asked if he knew how long the player is facing on the sidelines. "They need to do another test and hopefully next week we’ll have more information."
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