Gabriel Jesus gave Arsenal fans something to cheer about as he got involved in his first full training session with the club since November.
A regular for his new club in the early part of the season, the Brazil striker picked up an injury while representing his country at the World Cup in Qatar. The knee problem ended up requiring surgery, ensuring Arsenal have had to use understudies Eddie Nketiah and Leandro Trossard at the point of their attack.
Gunners manager Mikel Arteta has been reluctant to commit to a concrete return date for the 25-year-old, who joined from Manchester City in a £45m summer move. Jesus is back on the training pitch, though, and was put through his paces ahead of Thursday's Europa League game against Sporting Lisbon.
Arsenal travel to Portugal off the back of a comeback victory over Bournemouth, a fourth straight win in the Premier League. It came at a cost, though, with January signing Trossard forced off with an injury.
"It is a worry, he came to me straight away and said he couldn't continue, he'd felt something when he was tracking back, so we had to take him off. We'll assess him and see how he is," Arteta said after the Belgian lasted less than half an hour.
Trossard and Nketiah were both absent from training, potentially calling Jesus into action sooner than anticipated. If the Brazilian isn't deemed ready, though, Gabriel Martinelli could reprise the central role he took for part of the Bournemouth game.
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Also missing from the session was Kieran Tierney. The left back is set to miss Thursday's game through illness, The Scotland international scored Arsenal's winner in their last group game, at home to FC Zurich, to ensure Arteta's team finished top of their group.
The last-16 game could provide an option for January signing Jakub Kiwior to make his long-awaited debut. The Polish international has been on the bench for the last seven Premier League games, but has yet to make it onto the pitch.
"What does Mikel Arteta pay attention to? I think he pays attention to everything," Kiwior said in a recent interview with the Polish FA. "I thought that if we were leading by two or three goals I would get a chance, however, I am waiting patiently. Everyone would like to play.
There was also a slight concern over Emile Smith Rowe after the England international was substituted on against the Cherries and then taken off for goalscorer Reiss Nelson. However, Arteta played down suggestions an injury was responsible for his withdrawal.
"We didn’t plan to throw him in so early in the game," the Spaniard said. "We knew it was difficult for him to last for 70 minutes on the field after missing almost five months of football.
"I think he had a good impact in the game and at the end I felt we needed something else, especially on the left because we were lacking a threat and attracting more players to that side. That’s why we made the decision to bring Reiss on."
