Mikel Arteta is hopeful that Thomas Partey is only weeks away from his Arsenal comeback.
The Gunners midfielder injured his thigh during a training session in October and has not played since.
Partey was named in Ghana’s provisional 55-man squad for the Africa Cup of Nations this month, but was later left out of the final group.
The 30-year-old is still not in full training with Arsenal yet and it was decided that it was best to exercise caution with his comeback.
“It was about common sense,” said Arsenal boss Arteta, when asked about Partey’s absence from the Ghana squad.
“He had a long-term injury. He was trying to push his rehab because he really wanted to be with his national team, but he’s still far from training with the team and it didn’t make sense for him to be involved.”
Partey’s absence has been a blow for Arsenal as they have been hit hard by injuries in defence and the Ghanaian can cover at right-back.
And asked if Partey is weeks or months away from a return, Arteta said: “Hopefully it is weeks.
“When and how many weeks is going to depend a little bit on how [long] the next step, training with the team, will take him. But he is progressing well.”
Arsenal will hope to have Oleksandr Zinchenko back for Sunday’s FA Cup third round tie against Liverpool after he missed last week’s Premier League loss at Fulham with a calf injury.
“He’s progressing well. We have another training session tomorrow,” Arteta said on Friday. “We’ll evaluate if he’s available to play and ready to start the game.”
