Arsenal and Mikel Arteta have received some welcome injury news ahead of Monday night's FA Cup fourth round tie against Bournemouth.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos is back in full training and is set to be in contention for an immediate recall to the starting line-up for the game at the Vitality Stadium.
The defender missed the draws against Sheffield United as well as Chelsea because of illness and that resulted in Shkodran Mustafi starting back-to-back Premier League games.
But Sokratis is over his illness and his return is a huge boost to Arteta who has seen his defensive options limited in recent weeks.
A short statement regarding the Gunners no.5 on Arsenal.com reads: "Back in full training further to illness.
"Being assessed ahead of Bournemouth (a)."
As mentioned above, having Sokratis available is certainly fantastic news for the Gunners head coach as he's without two senior centre-backs for the cup tie.
One of which is David Luiz following his red card during the 2-2 draw against the Blues on Tuesday night.
The Brazilian is now suspended and that means it could be a straight swap between him and Sokratis along side Mustafi on the South Coast.
Another alternative is to hand Rob Holding his first start since the 2-0 defeat against Leicester City in November.
The 24-year-old was a late introduction at Stamford Bridge, but is clearly being eased back into action following a serious knee injury.
As expected, Calum Chambers, Kieran Tierney, Sead Kolasinac and Reiss Nelson will miss the game against the Cherries because of injury.
The latter pair are hoping to return at some point next month, Tierney is aiming to be back in contention in March, but the 2019/2020 season is over for Chambers following knee surgery.
Meanwhile, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang serves the final game of his three-match ban after receiving a red card for a challenge on Max Meyer during the 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace.
