Jurrien Timber is edging closer to a return to the Arsenal matchday squad.
The Dutch international has been absent since August with an ACL injury sustained on the opening day of the season. After nearly nine months out Timber finally made his return to the pitch for the Arsenal under-21s against Blackburn last week. The game couldn’t have gone much better for Timber who scored within the first 10 minutes, before being taken off in a pre-planned substitution at half time.
On Sunday, Timber then took part as Mehmet Ali’s side beat Liverpool 2-0. This time the 22-year-old ended up playing 70 minutes, as Arsenal look to ramp up his recovery.
Timber is now also part of full training with the first team at London Colney. He was pictured taking part in their session on Wednesday as they build up to Saturday’s Premier League clash with Bournemouth.
There is a strong chance that Timber could be involved when Arsenal take on the Cherries. It will mark the end of a lengthy recovery for the Dutch defender who has been kept involved in all of Mikel Arteta’s tactical meetings as he continues to adapt to his new club.
One of the biggest question marks over an involvement for Timber this weekend is regarding who he could replace. His return to fitness would mean that Arteta has a fully fit first team squad to pick from for the first time this season.
With only 20 places available in the matchday squad though, Arteta will have to drop one of his senior players from the group. Reiss Nelson, Cedric Soares and Mohamed Elneny were the unlucky trio to miss out in Sunday’s North London Derby victory over Tottenham.
It is unlikely that Timber would replace Jakub Kiwior, given that the Polish international has been involved in all but four of Arsenal’s matches since the turn of the year. Oleksandr Zinchenko is also unlikely to miss out. This means that one of the Gunners’ midfielders could be sacrificed instead.
