Arsenal & Mikel Arteta handed major injury boost ahead of title run-in

Arsenal midfielder Mohamed Elneny has made significant progress in his knee injury rehab by returning to the club’s training pitches to increase his recovery workload.

Elneny, who is now the Gunners’ longest serving player – arriving in 2016, has been pictured running with fitness coach Ricky O’Donoghue and first-team coaches Nico Jover and Carlos Cuesta.

The Egyptian international’s recovery has so far been confined to the gym, but moving outdoors onto the grass is always a major milestone in any rehab process.

The true impact of his return is not likely to be felt on the pitch until pre-season, with the end of the 2022/23 campaign now under three weeks away. But it could still be morale boost within the squad to see a popular player taking a big step forward.

Elneny was also seen to be congratulated on his return to grass by Arteta and the squad.

The 30-year-old has had a season blighted by injury. He earlier missed all of September and October due to thigh problems, but was back on the pitch just before the World Cup and then had an additional six weeks to train and sharpen his match fitness.

However, Elneny hasn’t played since New Year’s Eve because of the knee problem he later suffered in the build up to the north London derby in mid-January.

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Arsenal are also without Takehiro Tomiyasu, who won’t play again this season after undergoing knee surgery in March. But one player that fans are desperate to see return is William Saliba.

The French defender is nursing a back injury but his recovery has been slow and his absence was keenly felt during a patch of poor form when Arsenal dropped nine points in a run of four games in April that has left them playing catch up on Manchester City in the Premier League title race.

Saliba hasn’t played since Arsenal exited the Europa League at the hands of Sporting CP in March. But while Arteta has refused to rule the player out for the rest of the season, his latest update suggests he remains a major doubt to play again before 2023/24 due to a lack of training.

“Not a lot of progress,” the boss explained last Friday. “He’s feeling better every day but he’s not been able still to have any activity around the first team so we don’t expect him to be with us.”

“We are not [ruling him out for…