Arsenal will be boosted by the return of several first team players for the Premier League opener against Crystal Palace this week.
The Gunners enjoyed a stellar pre-season tour of America including wins over Premier League rivals Chelsea and Everton, before ending their preparations with a 6-0 win over Sevilla. Mikel Arteta's squad has seen the arrival of five new players with Gabriel JEsus, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Fabio Vieira, Matt Turner and Marquinhos all making the move to the Emirates Stadium.
Vieira has been unable to feature in any of Arsenal's pre-season games after making the £30million move from Porto with fans still waiting to catch a glimpse of the Portuguese playmaker in action. Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu both picked up injuries towards the back end of last season, whilst Emile Smith Rowe also faces a difficult task to break back into Arteta's first team.
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With that in mind, football.london takes a look at the latest injury news from the Emirates Stadium.
Kieran Tierney
Tierney faced a setback in his recovery from a knee injury sustained back in April during the Gunners' first pre-season friendly against Nurnberg.
The Scotland international returned to first team training last week as he steps up his recovery and was pictured taking part in a post-match recovery session following the 6-0 win over Sevilla on Saturday. Oleksandr Zinchenko's arrival has eased the pressure on Arteta with the former Manchester City man likely to start at left-back for the season opener against Palace.
Arteta commented on the return of injured players ahead of the new season and offered an update on his squad. The Spaniard said: "I think that most of them will be, they’ll have to go through what they need to this week and then hopefully we’ll have them available. They are lacking minutes but we’ll have to build that up like any other injury that we get during the season."
Takehiro Tomiyasu
Similar to Tierney, Tomiyasu missed large periods of last season due to injury struggles. The Japanese defender made just 21 Premier League appearances last term and sustained a calf injury back in February.
Arteta has a decision on his hands ahead of the game at Selhurst Park as to whether Tomiyasu starts at right-back, or Ben White continues on in the position with the 23-year-old settling for a place on the bench as he continues his recovery.
Emile Smith Rowe
Smith Rowe is in a similar position to Tomiyasu and Tierney after returning to first team training last week. The English forward will likely be a part of the matchday squad but is unlikely to start ahead of the settled quartet of Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli, Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka.
Fabio Vieira
Mikel Arteta revealed after the 4-0 win over Chelsea that Vieira is likely to need a little bit longer than the above trio as he looks to fully recover from a foot injury sustained whilst on duty with Portugal under-21s.
Arteta said: “Fabio probably [needs] a little bit longer.
“I think he needs another week or so before he starts with the team but he’s been working hard and he’s been really unlucky to start his Arsenal career in this way but again he’s fitting in well.”
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