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‘Giroud’s positivity behind comeback’

Olivier Giroud’s natural positivity is behind his early return from injury, according to Arsene Wenger.

The France international was expected to return in the new year after sustaining a fracture to his left tibia.

However, thanks to the work of the Arsenal medical team, Giroud is back in contention for Saturday’s game against Manchester United.

"He is very solid and heals very well. He also has a positive mentality. He’s always positive and that helps as well"

Arsene Wenger

“He’s ahead of schedule by at least three weeks,” Wenger said. “We planned for him to be back in January.

“He’s not there yet on the competition front but he’s in decent physical shape. He’s a bit short [of fitness] but he worked very hard to be back early and it worked.

“The surgery went well, he had no setbacks during his rehab and he’s got a naturally solid structure. He is very solid and heals very well. He also has a positive mentality. He’s always positive and that helps as well.”

Wenger welcomes Mikel Arteta back into his squad for Saturday’s game, but there are question marks over Danny Welbeck and Theo Walcott.

“We still have some problems - I haven’t seen Alexis Sanchez yet because he landed on [Thursday] afternoon,” he said.

“We have to check him this morning and Danny Welbeck also had a little hamstring problem. We have lots of people to check.

“Theo could not practice yesterday. It is a little tight groin. I don’t think he will be available.”

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