Timber returns, Vieira to be checked – Arteta issues pre-Wolves fitness update

Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Jurrien Timber will be in the squad for Arsenal’s opening game of the season against Wolves.

The Holland international picked up a minor foot problem during the first half of the Gunners’ tour of the USA and with the medical staff keen not to overload him following his return from ACL surgery, the decision was taken to rest him for friendlies against Liverpool, Bayer Leverkusen and Lyon.

Having suffered a near season-ending injury on the first day of last season, Timber has demons to exorcise so it’s great to hear he’s fully fit.

“Yes, he will be in the squad for tomorrow,” said Arteta when asked if Timber is available. 

“Obviously, he had a really tough period, but he used it in a great way, I think. We still managed to get a lot of things done and improve in many areas that instead of playing he found really, really helpful. Now he’s ready to play and he will have a chance.”

Arteta wasn’t able to confirm whether Fabio Vieira will take part but he was optimistic the midfielder, who missed the Emirates Cup on Saturday due to a hip problem, was on the mend.

“Fabio Vieira we have to check him now after training how he is, but he looked better today,” said the boss. 

Elsewhere, Arteta confirmed that Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney will be sidelined for the next few weeks. The Japan international has a knee injury while the Scot is recovering from the hamstring tear that ended up Euro 2024.

“They will be a few weeks behind,” responded Arteta when pressed on the pair. He was later asked if Tierney’s injury might scupper a move away from the club this summer.

“He needs to focus and recover in the best possible way, it’s been a tough time for him again with the last injury. We have to try to support him so he comes back fit.”

Facing a very tricky start in the Premier League, including away fixtures against Aston Villa, Manchester City and Sp*rs in the opening six weeks, Arsenal decided it was best to recall David Raya, Aaron Ramsdale, Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice a little earlier than expected from their post-Euro 2024 holidays.

While the group were willing to get back to London, the decision came in contrast to the way other clubs, namely Manchester City, treated their players who were afforded an extra week on the beach.

“I think we all have different plans throughout the season, when we give the kind of training sessions that we do. We believe it was the right thing to do,” said Arteta.

“It was something that we shared with the players to try to find the right schedule for all of them and we agreed that in that particular schedule it was like this, with Willy [Saliba] it was a bit different to the rest because of the amount of games that they played.”