Arsenal full back Hector Bellerin is stepping up his recovery from injury by being named in the clubs U23 side to face Liverpool in Premier League 2 this afternoon.
The 24-year-old has been a long term absentee due to a knee injury, but made his return by playing the final 13 minutes of the club's 5-0 Carabao Cup victory over Championship side Nottingham Forest on Tuesday.
In order to improve his match fitness, Bellerin has been named in the U23 squad against the Reds alongside fellow defender Dinos Mavropanos, which makes it unlikely that the full back will be in the squad that will travel to Manchester for the Premier League game against Man United on Monday.
Kieran Tierney and Rob Holding look to be heading to Manchester with the first team squad as they have not been named in the U23 team.
Bellerin has been out of action since January, following his cameo appearance against Nottingham Forest, Arsenal boss Unai Emery revealed that the defender was likely to get some more game time with the U23 squad before returning to first team action.
"He wanted to play 90. He told me yesterday 'I am ready and want to play'. We decided to give him less minutes also because he played with the Under-23 on Friday and these are the first matches for him," he said.
"We need to do progressively because the doctors say to us we are going to do it like that."
Asked if he'll be ready to start against Man United next week, Emery said: "I think no. Maybe in his mind yes. But we need to also listen to the doctor's. Tonight is the first day and minutes, we are going to share some minutes with the U23s.
