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Mikel Arteta gives positive Gabriel Jesus update as Arsenal striker closes in on return.
Mikel Arteta has revealed that Brazilian forward Gabriel Jesus is back training outside as he closes in on his long-awaited return to action.
The Brazilian international’s knee injury sustained while representing his nation in Qatar has prevented him from playing for the Gunners since before the World Cup.
However, he has now returned to Arsenal after a period abroad to speed up his rehabilitation at the club’s training facility, as revealed earlier this week.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s game against Brentford in the Premier League, Arteta gave a positive update on the 25-year-old’s fitness. “Gabi is doing really well,” said the Arsenal boss. “He’s already been outside a little bit. It’s still early stages, he keeps pushing everybody every single day. But we need to respect some timelines and some processes. But he’s doing really well.”
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When asked whether he could now put a timeframe on Jesus’ return to action, Arteta added: “Not yet, he’s still too far off that. You have to see now when you put some loads through that key and start to get some movement and some actions that are not as controlled as the ones he has been doing.”
Ahead to Saturday’s game, Arteta provided updates on Emile Smith Rowe (thigh) and Reiss Nelson (hamstring) in addition to talking about Jesus’ recuperation.
“They are closer,” he said. “They started to do some activities and they’ve been outside, but they are not ready yet to be contributing.”
On Saturday afternoon, the Gunners welcome Brentford in an effort to resume their winning ways in the Premier League.