Mikel Arteta confirms Arsenal duo are "very close" to injury comebacks
Partey has now passed the four-month mark without an appearance for Arsenal, having sustained a severe thigh injury in October, which meant he could not represent Ghana at the Africa Cup of Nations.
The 30-year-old was briefly back in team training last month, only to take a step back owing to a new complication, but he was pictured being put through his paces with his teammates before their Champions League last-16 first leg away to Porto.
Partey ultimately did not make the cut for that 1-0 loss to Sergio Conceicao's side, but speaking in Friday's pre-game press conference, Arteta offered a positive update on the midfielder's progress.
«Let's see. We have another session today and obviously he's been out for many, many months now and we need to really nail the timing and when he has enough in the tank to compete, but I think he's very close,» Arteta said.
While Partey was left at home in midweek, Fabio Vieira returned to the matchday squad following a groin operation, and Brazilian striker Jesus — who has been unavailable for the entire month due to a knee injury — is also on the cusp of returning.
However, defensive duo Oleksandr Zinchenko (calf) and Takehiro Tomiyasu (knock) still need more time to recover from their issues, while Jurrien Timber is still on the long road to recovery from August's ACL injury.
«It's the same with Gabby [Jesus] as well, he's done a few things. Alex [Zinchenko] is not far at all, and Tomiyasu is still a little bit more,»
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