Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has revealed that midfielder Thomas Partey "could be available" for Saturday's Premier League clash with Leicester City.
The Ghana international has been forced to sit out the Gunners' last two fixtures against Manchester City and Aston Villa due to a fresh thigh injury sustained in training.
Partey was plagued by injuries during his first couple of years at the club, but he has since blossomed into one of the Premier League's leading players in his position alongside Granit Xhaka.
A recent report claimed that Partey was optimistic of being available for the trip to the King Power Stadium, where victory would send Arsenal five points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table.
While Arsenal staff are not prepared to rush his recovery, Arteta confirmed in his pre-game press conference that Partey has a chance of being passed fit, even though he has not been training at full intensity.
"Not a lot of changes, obviously the question mark on Thomas, he hasn't trained much but he could be available so let's see how he trains today," Arteta told the media. "He's a really important player for us that we've missed in the last few games but hopefully he can be available."
Should Partey miss out again, Jorginho can look forward to a third successive start in Arsenal colours since his deadline-day move from Chelsea, and the Italian has seamlessly slotted into the Gunners midfield.
After a standout performance against Manchester City, Jorginho's stoppage-time effort against Aston Villa crashed off the bar before bouncing off the head of Emiliano Martinez into the back of the net - putting the Gunners 3-2 up before Gabriel Martinelli completed the rout in a 4-2 win.
Arteta insisted that he was not surprised by Jorginho's immediate impact in North London, adding: "He has the experience, the qualities that we need in the team and obviously he knows the league so well that there are not a lot of things that are new to him or caught him by surprise."
The Gunners boss also had a "really positive" update to share on striker Gabriel Jesus, who is on the long road to recovery from knee surgery and is stepping up his rehabilitation at Arsenal's London Colney training base.
The striker is still a few weeks away from a return to first-team action, and Arteta has insisted that the club will respect the timeframe given from doctors, but his recuperation period is going very well.
"He's progressing well. Doing more and more on the field. The knee's not reacting so it's really positive. We want him back as quick as possible, but also respecting the timescale that the doctors and the specialists are giving us," Arteta said.
Mohamed Elneny is also on the mend from knee surgery, but the midfielder was recently rewarded with a new one-year deal to the delight of Arteta, who said: "Totally deserved and a joy to have him at the club.
"What the club has done is absolutely brilliant and it is just not with words to say 'okay that we value the people we have and we are going to stick with people in difficult moments'. Mo has had a difficult moment when he had a pretty bad and serious injury a few weeks ago and the club committed with him for what he gives to the team and what he has done for the club."
Arteta was also questioned on Bukayo Saka's contract situation following reports claiming that the 21-year-old had agreed a new long-term deal, but the Spaniard - as ever - remained tight-lipped, saying: "No news on that."
Arsenal currently hold a two-point lead over champions Man City with a game in hand, and the Citizens are not in action until Saturday evening's meeting with Bournemouth. body check tags ::
