Arsenal are reportedly optimistic that Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Magalhaes will both be fit for next Sunday's crunch clash with Manchester City in the Premier League.
Neither man has been available for their national teams this month due to injuries, with Saka joining up with the England squad only to pull out with an unexplained problem.
England stated that the 22-year-old had arrived at St George's Park with the issue, which is believed to be a long-term niggle that club and national team doctors have been managing.
Meanwhile, Brazil defender Gabriel left the Selecao squad with an apparent Achilles issue, but according to The Mirror, neither man's concern is of a serious nature.
As a result, Mikel Arteta expects to be able to count on them both for the Gunners' daunting trip to the Etihad on Easter Sunday, where they can build up a four-point lead over the reigning Premier League champions.
Thanks to their nervy 2-1 success over Brentford and Man City's 1-1 draw with Liverpool, Arsenal went into the international break top of the rankings with 10 games to play, leading the Citizens by one point and above the Reds on goal difference.
Saka has once again played a fundamental role in Arsenal's impressive exploits by hitting double figures in both goals and assists in all tournaments for the 2023-24 season, amassing 16 of his own and setting up 13 more.
No Gunners player has scored more goals than the England winger, who has also found the back of the net 13 times in the Premier League, where Arsenal are on a record-breaking eight-game winning streak.
Meanwhile, Gabriel has been another towering presence in both boxes with four goals from 26 top-flight matches for set-piece masters Arsenal, and he has only failed to make the first XI on two occasions all season.
As well as Gabriel and Saka, the injury-plagued pair of Takehiro Tomiyasu and Thomas Partey are also expected to be given the green light to make the trip to Manchester after featuring in a behind-closed-doors friendly with Queens Park Rangers last week.
Tomiyasu played one half while Partey completed 64 minutes of that 4-0 crushing at the hands of the Championship side, although they were the only two senior players involved in the match.
The exhibition contest came too soon for ACL victim Jurrien Timber to make his non-competitive comeback, and it has now been over seven months since the Dutchman took to the field for his new club.
Timber is also expected to miss next weekend's title showdown, while Gabriel Martinelli is nursing a nasty cut to the foot, which he picked up in the 6-0 thrashing of Sheffield United on March 4.
The attacker is still considered a doubt for the clash with City at this juncture, meaning that Leandro Trossard or former Citizens attacker Gabriel Jesus could fill in on the left-hand side on March 31. body check tags ::
