Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Thomas Partey should make his long-awaited comeback from a thigh injury in Monday's Premier League clash with Sheffield United.
The Ghana international's last appearance for the Gunners came in a 1-0 win over Manchester City in October, a couple of weeks before he sustained his latest serious issue in training.
Partey's problem was severe enough to require surgery, and after omitting him from his squad for the Africa Cup of Nations, then-Ghana boss Chris Hughton described the issue as the worst injury that the midfielder had faced in his career.
Partey was briefly back in full training with his teammates in January only to suffer a setback, but his complication was not an especially damaging one, and he was back with the rest of the group before the first leg of their Champions League last-16 clash with Porto.
The 30-year-old did not take part in that 1-0 win and also failed to make the cut for the Gunners' 4-1 Premier League beating of Newcastle United last Saturday, the 30th game he has missed through injury this season.
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However, speaking to the media ahead of Monday's trip to Bramall Lane, Arteta shared a positive update on Partey's fitness, and the Spaniard expects the ex-Atletico Madrid man to travel to Sheffield.
"Thomas had a session before the last game and now he's done two consecutive sessions so he should be part of the squad on Monday," arsenal.com quotes Arteta as saying.
Partey's return to fitness comes after Fabio Vieira made his comeback from a groin operation as an unused substitute against Porto, while Gabriel Jesus was also back on the bench against Newcastle after another knee concern.
The Brazilian did not earn any minutes against the Magpies, though, and Arteta will continue to adopt a cautious approach with his fitness given his history of knee issues, adding: "Well he's fit enough, but knowing how long he will last is something different.
"We didn't want to take any risks after the result that we had against Newcastle. Obviously we need him fit. He's a massive player for us and we want to make sure that now we load the players in the right way."
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While Jesus and Vieira were included in the matchday squad at the weekend, Oleksandr Zinchenko (calf) and Takehiro Tomiyasu (knock) were nowhere to be seen, but the two full-backs are in with a chance of making the cut on Monday too.
"Those ones are possible but we have to wait and see, especially with the last two sessions that we have on Saturday and Sunday. If that's the case, they might be available on Monday," Arteta said.
Should all of Partey, Zinchenko and Tomiyasu be passed fit, ACL victim Jurrien Timber - who trained at the Emirates earlier this week - would be Arsenal's only missing player at Bramall Lane, but the Dutchman's recovery remains on track, and Arteta hailed him as a "joy" for the medical team to work with.
"Jurrien is not close enough to be part of the squad on Monday. It's been a joy and all the physios and the medical staff are really happy with his attitude, and his commitment, especially with the way things have gone," the Gunners boss said.
"It's not a coincidence the way he applies [himself], how determined he is, his willingness to put every effort in everything that he's demanded to do and he's in a really good place. Now we have to manage [him] because it's the last stage of that difficult injury that is complicated, but I think he's on the right way."
Arsenal remain third in the table heading into the next gameweek, two points behind leaders Liverpool and one adrift of reigning champions Manchester City, although the gap could widen before they kick off on Monday night.
Ben Knapton
