Latest Arsenal injury news as four miss Fulham with Bukayo Saka injury return decision made

Mikel Arteta has confirmed one injury blow and boost ahead of the Premier League clash against Fulham during his first Arsenal press conference in over two weeks. The March international break and FA Cup quarter-finals, which the Gunners were not in, has resulted in no competitive football in the last 15 days.

With so much time off, the chances of Bukayo Saka returning from injury appeared to be significant. Having been captured back in training last week, there was firm hope he would be available to feature against Fulham and Arteta has confirmed exactly that is on the cards.

Asked if he could return, the Gunners boss said: "Bukayo is ready to go. All the careful things are already done. Now it's about putting him in the grass at the right moment. But he's pushing because he really wants to. We have respected the timeline, and we have done everything." Arteta later stated he is in a position to start.

Saka being back will come as a huge boost for Arsenal with their Champions League quarter-final first leg against Real Madrid set for next Tuesday. Before then, the Gunners also face Everton in the league and for that game and others, it looks as though the player being replaced by Saka in the matchday squad has been confirmed.

During the two-week domestic pause, Riccardo Calafiori picked up a knee injury and Arteta has revealed he will be missing the next few weeks because of that. "Calafiori unfortunately picked up a knee injury with the national team," he said on Monday.

"It was really unfortunate how that injury happened, but it could have been much worse. So, hopefully, it's going to be a matter of weeks. But we have to see how the injury evolves."

There was also some concern over Jurrien Timber after illness saw him absent for the Netherlands' two Nations League games but Arteta has confirmed he is feeling much better. In terms of other injury news, there was surprisingly no updates on either Kai Havertz or Gabriel Jesus with both attackers ruled out for the season.

To fix their respective hamstring and knee issues, surgery was required with Takehiro Tomiyasu also going under the knife earlier this year. In terms of expected return dates, Havertz is on track to be available for pre-season while Jesus could be back in October with Tomiyasu following before the end of the year.

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