'It's been a long time coming'

By Connor Armstrong

Carl Jenkinson made his first Arsenal appearance for 898 days in the 2-0 win over Reading - and he couldn’t have been happier about it.

The England international spent two seasons on loan with West Ham United, before having to endure nine months on sidelines with a knee injury.

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• Wenger on the win, youngsters, Jenkinson 

But after making his comeback in Tuesday night’s EFL Cup victory, Jenkinson was delighted to have been back in red and white.

"It felt brilliant. It’s been a long time coming," he told Arsenal Player. "Of course, I was on loan for a couple of years and that was really good for me. But coming back and having nine months out injured has been very tough. So days and nights like tonight make it all worthwhile.

"It was tough. They were a decent team but I think over the 90 minutes we were the better team for sure. We played some really nice stuff at times but they came here and they had a really good go, to be fair to them.

"At times they left four up top against us back four, so they had a real good go. But it’s a good result for us and it’s good that we’re through to the next round."

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