Arsenal handed major new injury boost as huge return beckons | OneFootball

Key Gunners star appears on track for Bournemouth clash as Premier League title battle resumes

Arsenal have been handed a key new injury boost after Eberechi Eze returned to training.

The England midfielder was seen taking part in a session at London Colney on Thursday afternoon as Mikel Arteta’s leaders stepped up preparations for their return to Premier League action against Bournemouth on Saturday lunchtime, when they will look to extend their lead at the summit to 12 points before title rivals Manchester City go to Chelsea on Sunday.

However, he was omitted from Arteta’s squad for the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City five days later and withdrew from England duty after being diagnosed with a calf injury that was expected to keep him sidelined for between four to six weeks.

The sight of Eze back in training seemingly well ahead of schedule will be a welcome one for Arsenal fans ahead of the title run-in and Arteta will be expected to provide a further update on his availability at his pre-Bournemouth press conference at 1:30pm BST on Friday afternoon.

There was no Bukayo Saka, Jurrien Timber or Martin Odegaard spotted in training on Thursday, with Piero Hincapie and Riccardo Calafiori also not involved in addition to long-term absentee Mikel Merino.

Saka played in the Carabao Cup final defeat by City, but also pulled out of the England squad and missed games against Southampton and Sporting with an unspecified issue that he has been managing of late.

Comeback: Eberechi Eze has not played for Arsenal since scoring a brilliant goal against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League

Bradley Collyer/PA Wire

Timber has not featured since going off with a groin injury in the first half of the win over Everton on March 14, while Odegaard similarly missed out at Wembley but started against both Southampton and Sporting before coming off in the latter game with an apparent knee complaint.

Leverkusen loanee Hincapie recently injured his hamstring playing for Ecuador against Morocco, while Calafiori came off the bench in the shock FA Cup quarter-final defeat by Southampton and then started in the Champions League last-eight first-leg contest against Sporting in Lisbon, playing the full 90 minutes.

He had experienced some pain after reporting for Italy duty last month, but went on to start and finish play-off games against both Northern Ireland and Bosnia and Herzegovina - including extra time in the latter match - as the Azzurri failed to qualify for the World Cup finals for the third time in a row.

Merino, meanwhile, is still recovering from surgery on a rare and serious foot injury suffered back in January that is expected to keep him sidelined for a period of months.