As Mikel Arteta takes his squad to Dubai for their winter break, there is some good news for one Arsenal loanee who could be in action this week.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan has had a mixed spell in Italy with injuries hampering his time in Rome. Since joining Roma he has suffered two injuries and only completed two matches - his debut against Sassuolo in September and Wolfsberger AC in their final Europa League group match.
He suffered a tear in his abductor muscle, which ruled him out for two months, back in October and is currently recovering from a thigh muscle strain since January.
But it seems the Armenian playmaker has recovered from his latest set back and could feature in Friday night's match at home against Bologna.
Speaking ahead of the match, manager Paulo Fonseca conceded he got the tactics wrong in their defeat 4-2 to Sassuolo.
However, he has confirmed Mkhitaryan and team-mate Javier Pastore (bone edema) will both feature in the squad for the Serie A clash.
Fonseca said: "Javier Pastore and Henrikh Mkhitaryan have been training with the group. Of the two, Henrikh is in slightly better shape but both will be in the squad."
He said: "We're working to change the mentality, but that's not the only thing.
"I got the tactics wrong against Sassuolo and the players got it wrong tactically and technically. We started poorly, lost our balance, but we were a bit better after the break."
Since coming back from his first injury, Mkhitaryan featured in every match from December last year but only played 164 out of a possible 450 minutes - starting just one match against Inter Milan.
When he does feature, he is mainly used as a left-winger but has featured as a no.10 or on the right too.
He has scored three times and provided one assist in his 11 matches for La Magica.
What are the bookies saying?
AS Roma are priced as the favourites at 6/10 with Bologna - who haven't won in Rome since 2012 - at 4/1.
Should Mkhitaryan feature in the match, no doubt as a substitute, he is priced at 6/1 to score first or 9/5 anytime with thepools.com.
The last two matches between the two sides ended 2-1 to Roma and a repeat is priced at 15/2.
