Arsenal appear to have been handed a triple fitness boost ahead of their return to Premier League action against Nottingham Forest this weekend.
The Gunners resume their top-flight campaign in the first game of the day at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday lunchtime, against a Forest side now led by former Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou following the surprise sacking of Nuno Espirito Santo.
Mikel Arteta’s side will be desperate to bounce back quickly having had the international break to stew on their narrow defeat by likely title rivals Liverpool last time out, which halted their early season momentum following a narrow win at Manchester United and 5-0 demolition of newly-promoted Leeds.
Arsenal will have to cope without several key players for the visit of Forest to north London, with Bukayo Saka still sidelined with a hamstring injury and William Saliba also set to miss out with an ankle problem sustained in the warm-up at Anfield that then forced him off in the opening minutes.
Neither Saka nor Saliba were seen in Gunners training at London Colney on Thursday as expected, with Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus also still unavailable.
However, the Sky Sports cameras picked up all of Ben White, Christian Norgaard and Piero Hincapie taking part in the session, boosting Arteta’s selection options for the weekend.
Standard Sport reported last week that versatile full-back White was hoping to be fit to face Forest, having started against United on opening weekend and then missed the meetings with Leeds and Liverpool with an unspecified knock.
Danish midfielder Norgaard, meanwhile, featured in pre-season for Arsenal after completing a £10million move from London rivals Brentford in July, but has yet to play in a competitive game due to injury.
Hincapie became the eighth and final major signing of an impressive summer transfer window at the Emirates and his quick return to training after a long trip on international duty bodes well for a potential swift debut this weekend.
The 23-year-old defender, who is on a season-long loan from Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen that can be made permanent next summer for a fee of £45m, played the full 90 minutes for Ecuador in both of their most recent World Cup qualifiers against Paraguay and Argentina, clashing with Liverpool midfielder Alexis Mac Allister in the latter fixture - a shock 1-0 win for the hosts in Guayaquil.
In a further boost to Arsenal, captain Martin Odegaard insists he is now over the shoulder injury that forced him off against Leeds and saw him limited to a substitute’s role at Liverpool, enjoying a star turn in Norway’s 11-1 thrashing of Moldova in Oslo on Tuesday.
New Forest boss Postecoglou was dealing with an injury problem just hours into his tenure at the City Ground on Wednesday, when full-back Ola Aina was substituted early during Nigeria’s draw with South Africa with a suspected hamstring issue.
