Mikel Arteta set to revive title bid as injured Arsenal duo provide Dubai boost

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Arsenal are suffering from something of a mini-crisis, but a mid-season break has now come at the perfect time.

Arsenal do not play again until January 20th, and Mikel Arteta’s squad and coaching staff are headed to Dubai for a mid-season training camp.

The trip will be a good chance for the players to rest and recover, whilst also training in the warmer climate, and Arteta’s whole coaching team are making the trip as they aim to address a poor run of form which has seen Arsenal win just one of their last seven games in all competitions.

Arsenal also have several players injured at the moment, with Oleksandr Zinchenko, Gabriel Jesus and Fabio Vieira among the absentees against Liverpool, but they have been handed something of a boost as Thomas Partey and Jurrien Timber are both set to travel with the rest of the squad.

Jurrien Timber and Thomas Partey to join Arsenal squad in Dubai

Football.London have now revealed that the pair, who have both missed almost the entirety of this season, will be present alongside the rest of the squad for the Dubai training camp.

Whilst they will undertake many different duties, including media commitments, their presence perhaps indicates that Arteta wants them alongside the rest of their teammates in case they are able to return at some point this season.

Timber ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament on his Premier League debut, meaning he may even miss the entire campaign, whilst Partey has featured just once since August as he continues to struggle with a thigh injury he picked up in October.

He will miss Ghana’s African Cup of Nations campaign in January, but will be in Dubai with the rest of the Arsenal team.

When could Partey and Timber return from injury?

The pair appear to be some way off from returning, but there may be some hope that they can play a part in this campaign, and both players would provide a massive boost to Arsenal’s faltering title challenge.

Arteta recently expressed his frustration at losing the pair, particularly as they could have helped evolve his tactical plans and made Arsenal more unpredictable.

Both started in the back line during Arsenal’s opening-day victory over Nottingham Forest, with Partey playing as an inverted right-back and Timber on the left, and the versatility of both players would have been especially useful right now.

Timber still looks set to be absent for a long time, and too much hope should not be pinned on him for this season, but Partey could eventually make a return for the last few months of the season, at which point Arsenal will hope to still be in a title race and the Champions League knockout stages.