"It is too soon" - Mikel Arteta confirms Arsenal man will miss Wolves clash

The former Ajax man has now spent over eight months in the Emirates infirmary, having sustained an ACL injury on the opening weekend of the top-flight campaign in August.

Since that fateful day, Timber has been consistently making positive steps in his recovery without any setbacks, and he has now progressed to the point where he can train with the first team.

Arteta has always affirmed that he is optimistic about Timber's chances of coming back before the campaign is over, and he was included in Arsenal's squad for the Champions League knockout rounds.

However, the 22-year-old would ultimately fail to return before the Gunners' European campaign came to an end against Bayern Munich on Wednesday, where a 1-0 loss condemned Arteta's men to quarter-final heartbreak.

Nevertheless, Timber is still on course to feature before the end of the season, but Arteta — speaking in Friday's pre-game press conference — conceded that it will not be at Molineux this weekend.

However, the Netherlands international — who is looking «really good» in practice — will take part in an Under-21s game at an unspecified date, with Arteta saying: «It is too soon.

»He's going to play a game with the under-21s and after that we will see better where he is, how he felt. He looks really good in training but it's that last step now. We need to have the certainty that he's ready to go."

Timber remains the only player in the Arsenal infirmary after Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard shook off knocks to feature against Bayern, as Arteta