Arteta confirms Jesus available to face Fulham

Mikel Arteta revealed that Gabriel Jesus is available for selection for Saturday's game against Fulham after recovering from minor knee surgery.

The Brazilian missed our Community Shield triumph as well as the opening Premier League matches against Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace, but returned to training this week as he stepped up his recovery.

And in his pre-match press conference, Mikel said that he feels that our number nine is ready for his first competitive minutes of the campaign.

Reflecting on Gabby's progress, the boss said: "We’re really happy. Obviously, it was a big blow for him after the pre-season that he had to have another surgery, but he’s looking really sharp, and trained the full week really good, so he’s ready to go."

On whether he was ready to start from the off, Mikel added: "Let’s see! It’s very good news."

Mikel also said there were no other issues within the squad, meaning only Jurrien Timber and Mohamed Elneny are the only injured players still in the treatment room, while Oleksandr Zinchenko could also get his first minutes of the season alongside Jesus with a hole left in our defence following Takehiro Tomiyasu's suspension.

Reflecting on his options, he said: "You have an idea on numbers but obviously there are a lot of things that you cannot control like injuries. It’s true that we have a lot in that department and it’s something that we haven’t had in previous years. We have used different players in the backline for certain moments.

"It’s really important, especially for the players and everybody needs to have clarity in their roles, where there are playing and obviously their families as well. We need clarity in the amount of numbers that we’re going to have, who can do what, but until the window is shut, it is still a bit strange to be competing already in different competitions and the window is still open, but we have to deal with that, it’s happened for a long time and we are used to it."