Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta is "positive" that the Gunners will welcome a few unnamed injury victims back to the ranks for Saturday's Premier League clash with Burnley at Turf Moor.
The Gunners board the coach to Lancashire on the back of last weekend's sensational 6-0 hammering of West Ham United, which marked their biggest Premier League away win to date and their joint-largest league victory on the road in their history.
By putting six past the beleaguered Irons without reply, Arsenal also wiped out their goal difference disadvantage to Manchester City, who are now only better off than the Gunners on goals scored, albeit having also played one fewer match.
The Gunners remain two points adrift of Liverpool at the top of the table too, but they put West Ham to the sword without the services of seven first-team regulars, including Emile Smith Rowe, Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu.
Jesus has now sat out two fixtures with a fresh knee issue, which Arteta previously said should not take longer than a few days to heal, while Zinchenko picked up yet another calf problem in the 3-1 win over Liverpool two weekends ago.
Meanwhile, Smith Rowe was absent from the squad at the London Stadium after rolling his ankle in training, while Tomiyasu's domestic comeback from the Asian Cup was delayed due to a niggle.
Without naming names, Arteta told reporters at his pre-match press conference that there was optimism over a few players for the weekend's trip to Burnley, suggesting that the aforementioned quartet could all be in with a chance of featuring.
"Some of them have been progressing better than others. We have a training session again today, some of them have done a few bits this week and I'm positive that hopefully we're going to get a few back for tomorrow," Arteta said, before also confirming that none had been ruled out.
However, the North London giants are sure to be working without their three known long-term absentees, including Jurrien Timber, who is still a number of weeks away from returning to full training after suffering an ACL injury in August.
Thigh victim Thomas Partey, meanwhile, had rejoined his teammates for training at London Colney before suffering a setback, but Arteta also shared an encouraging update on the Ghanaian, who has been on the sidelines since October.
"No there are no big setbacks on any of the other injuries and Thomas Partey as well is progressing really well. I don't want to say too much but he's looking very good and he's on the field already," the Spaniard added.
Finally, Fabio Vieira is still on the mend following the groin operation he underwent in November, but a report earlier this week claimed that the Portuguese is targeting a return for next week's Champions League last-16 with former club Porto.
When asked if Vieira was on track to face his old employers, Arteta confirmed the good news and revealed that he is ahead of schedule in his recovery, saying: "There is a chance, yes.
"He's very close. He's been training already for a few days with the team. So I think it's very close. He'll be back probably faster than we expected and he's in a good place."
Vieira's most recent senior appearance for Arsenal came in their 3-1 beating of Burnley at the Emirates on November 11, where he was sent off just 24 minutes after coming off the bench. body check tags ::
