Jurrien Timber is closing in on a return to the Arsenal first team, Mikel Arteta has confirmed.
The Dutch international has been absent since August after sustaining an ACL injury on the opening weekend of the season against Nottingham Forest. He made his return to full training earlier this year and took a major step in his recovery by featuring for the under-21s against Blackburn Rovers on Monday night.
The return could not have gone much better for Timber who was able to score a superb goal to put Mehmet Ali's side 1-0 up. After completing a 45-minute cameo the Dutch international admitted he was feeling good.
“It’s been eight months [since I played last], so, to be honest, I still don’t really know how to feel, but just being out there feels amazing,” Timber said. “Even now after it, it just feels strange a bit as well. It’s amazing. It’s been eight months. I feel happy, I feel blessed to be back out there. It was nice scoring a goal as well.
“Even that felt strange. I think I didn’t even realise I was scoring a goal even that felt strange because I don’t score a lot of goals, maybe I changed that during my rehab, let’s see!”
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Arsenal have been able to welcome back several key players in recent weeks. Takehiro Tomiyasu, Thomas Partey and Fabio Vieira have all made returns from long-term injuries of their own and featured in Tuesday's 5-0 win over Chelsea.
It now seems that Timber is not far off either. Speaking after the hammering of Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium, Arteta revealed that he is hoping to have a fully fit squad for the final
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