Mikel Arteta confirms Jurrien Timber return as Arsenal stars face late fitness test for Aston Villa game

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Jurrien Timber is close to making a return to first team action.

The 22-year-old hasn't played since the opening game of the season after sustaining an ACL injury, which was expected to rule him out for the season.

Timber has been back in first team training for a couple of weeks and the club will now manage his return carefully, with an in-house game planned soon.

"He has still got a few steps to make,” said Arteta.

“He needs to play a game at least with the U23s. He is going to have an in-house game soon as well."

“He has done everything in training, now it's getting that match fitness and having people around and starting to compete in matches, which is different to training."

“For everything we see in training and the time that he was fit, I think he is going to have a big, big impact in the team."

"We have got one more day to prepare the match and we will see if everyone is available. We have some [doubts] but with another day hopefully everybody is going to be OK."

Meanwhile, Arteta has said that playing after title rivals Manchester City and Liverpool this weekend will give his team ‘motivation’.

Arteta’s side face Villa at Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon, where they could potentially consolidate their top spot further in the Premier League if they can overcome Unai Emery’s men.

"I think it’s just a motivation,” admitted the Spaniard.

“I think they lived it already and they are super excited about what we are doing, the way the team is performing and winning, and they want more. 

"We know the challenge ahead of us and how good we have to be to win it, but we are going to try."

"We will know their results. We will still have our duty to win the game, which is the only thing we can control.

"That happened a few times already, it’s going to happen again. We just focus on what we have to do and what we can control."