Takehiro Tomiyasu
Defender Tomiyasu has been out for an extended period with a knee injury that he suffered whilst on international duty with Japan during the summer.
He did make a return in the Autumn, but wasn’t fully recovered, suffering a set-back which has kept him out for a large part of the winter.
However, he could make a long-awaited return this weekend against City, helping Arteta with extra depth in defence, something that will be useful ahead of the run-in.
Expected return date – Sunday 2 February vs Manchester City (H)
Ben White
Ben White has been recovering from a long-term knee injury that he suffered in November. He is nearing close to a return, but the City game will come too quickly for the English defender.
Arteta said earlier in January: “He hasn’t trained with the team yet, but I think he’s very close to doing that. He still needs to tick a few boxes in the next two or three days. If that’s going well and smoothly, I think he’ll be with us pretty soon.”
A mid-February return looks likely for White, which means that he is also likely to miss Arsenal’s Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Newcastle United.
Expected return date – Saturday 15 February vs Leicester City (A)
