Abou Diaby moved closer to making a return from a thigh injury by featuring for Arsenal's development squad this afternoon.

The French midfielder has only featured on six occasions for the Gunners this season, which is one more appearance than he managed during the whole of the last campaign.

However, his 90-minute outing against West Bromwich Albion's youngsters earlier today has lead to reports that a return to senior action is now not far away.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Carl Jenkinson and Emmanuel Frimpong also appeared during the match, which ended in a 1-1 draw.