Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Piero Hincapie, Martin Zubimendi and Christos Tzolis are close to returning to action as Arsenal prepare to travel to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
Hincapie injured his ankle in a training session after Arsenal’s 2-1 win against Leeds United last Saturday.
The Ecuadorian was carried off the pitch by Illan Meslier and therefore missed the 3-0 success against Lille in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Although Arteta revealed it’s not a long-term problem and the defender is fighting for a return, he is poised to miss the trip to The City Ground.
Speaking in his pre-Forest press conference, Arteta said (via football.london): “Piero is evolving really well as well, knowing his character and the way he pushes everybody, it’s not going to take long I don’t think, probably another week or two.”
Zubimendi, meanwhile, also suffered an ankle injury in that same session, though his situation is “much better”, and Arteta hinted the Spaniard could be back to face Forest, having missed the game against Lille.
“Zubi is doing much better, we have another session tomorrow, let’s see how he evolves,” Arteta added.
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Tzolis hasn’t featured for Arsenal since before the international break. He has missed the last two fixtures with a muscle problem, but Arteta is confident he will be back soon.
“Doing really well, had an MRI scan yesterday and he’s progressing really well, another one we can hopefully have back in a few weeks,” Arteta said on the Greece international.
William Saliba is another Arsenal player out injured, though the Frenchman is yet to feature this season after aggravating a back problem while in action for France at the World Cup.
When asked for an update on Saliba, who is poised to be back in November, Arteta said: “Next week we have another MRI next week to see how he’s progressing.”
Arteta was also quizzed on Saliba’s absence from Arsenal’s 2026/27 team photo, with fans noticing that the defender was missing after the club released the picture.
Arsenal clarified that Saliba missed the photoshoot because of a medical appointment.
“We’ve tried to do the picture three times already, we have some commercial obligations so we had to do that picture, we will have another picture with the whole family one day,” Arteta finished.
The Gunners travel to Forest on Sunday looking to keep the pressure on Manchester City at the top of the Premier League, with Arteta’s side winning five out of their six top-flight matches so far.
