What Jurrien Timber did during Arsenal vs Newcastle after positive Mikel Arteta injury update

Jurrien Timber will be hoping he can feature for Arsenal before the end of the 2023/24 season. The Netherlands international, who signed from Ajax in the summer, suffered a severe ACL injury on his Premier League debut, which has seen him miss the last six months of action.

Numerous updates have been provided by the player, Mikel Arteta, and the club in recent weeks; however, a return still looks some way off. To give some hope Timber could feature again, he was named in Arsenal's resubmitted Champions League squad for the knockout stages.

Following that, Arteta provided an update on his condition ahead of the clash against Newcastle, which hinted a training return was in the works. On Friday, he said: «I really hope [he plays again this season.] He’s doing really well. He’s been with some players on the pitch. He’s going to start to do some bits with us on the pitch in the next week or so. Then we’ll have to see how he’s doing, his confidence level, his fitness level. Hopefully the answer will be yes.»

Arteta will certainly not rush Timber back from injury; however, given the other issues the Gunners have faced at full-back, the Arsenal boss will be hoping he can feel like a new signing upon his return. Jakub Kiwior has been forced to play left-back in the continued absence of Oleksandr Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu.

The Poland international was again in the right position in the 4-1 victory against Newcastle, where he also scored Arsenal's nineteenth goal from a set-piece. An own goal from Sven Botman and a strike from Kai Havertz put Arsenal in control, but the score line was not a reflection of their dominance.

Newcastle were fortunate to still be in the game at the interval, and Timber certainly showed his enjoyment by