Before the match against Liverpool, another purportedly injured Arsenal player was seen in a training photo.
After spotting the Dutch international in a backdrop photo from a recent practice, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta announced that Jurrien Timber has resumed training, giving supporters hope. Since Arsenal’s defensive depth has been severely weakened, everyone is anxious to see if the defender will be available for the forthcoming match against Liverpool.
Defenders Kieran Tierney, Riccardo Calafiori, and Takehiro Tomiyasu are all out with injury, and William Saliba will miss the game because of his ban. If Arteta is healthy enough to play, Timber’s versatility—which enables him to play at left-back, right-back, or center-back—could give him vital choices. Given Mohamed Salah of Liverpool’s reputation for having a lethal left foot, Timber’s versatility as a left-back could be especially helpful.
However, Timber has been sidelined for over three weeks because of an injury, and according to preliminary reports, as of Friday, he was still not fully participating in training. Arteta’s confirmation that Timber had managed minimal involvement in the most recent session allayed such worries to some extent.
Arteta clarified, “Timber, once more, this is the first session in which he could be somewhat involved.” We thought he would be farther back than he is now, but he has been out for a while. Once more, though, we must wait and see (for Liverpool).
When Timber was seen in the background of a squad photo with young forward Andre Harriman-Annous, supporters swiftly took to social media to share their optimism.
Despite this encouraging development, Timber’s long-term recuperation schedule seems consistent with his exclusion from the Netherlands’ provisional team for the Nations League internationals in November. Timber has already been left out by Dutch manager Ronald Koeman, perhaps in keeping with Arsenal’s early predictions that Timber’s comeback would take longer.
