Two Arsenal stars return to training as Mikel Arteta reveals update for Man Utd clash

Arsenal hope to welcome Riccardo Calafiori and Piero Hincapie back from injury in time for their Premier League showdown with Manchester United.

The Gunners are seven points clear a the summit of English football after Manchester City and Aston Villa dropped more points last weekend.

United head to north London off the back of a thrilling derby victory over Pep Guardiola’s side, turning in perhaps their best performance of the season in Michael Carrick’s first game in charge.

Arsenal have had a relatively clean bill of health as of late but have been without Riccardo Calafiori since Christmas.

The Italy international has not played since the Carabao Cup win over Crystal Palace having pulled out of the warm-up ahead of the game against Brighton on 27 December.

Hincapie was Mikel Arteta’s preferred option to fill in at left-back but the summer signing has also been sidelined with a groin injury suffered in the goalless draw with Liverpool.

Both defenders were spotted back in training on Friday morning suggesting they will be available for the visit of United.

Arteta was as coy as ever when asked for an update on the pair in his pre-match press conference.

‘We have another training session. We will see tomorrow after that. After Inter we had no [injury] issues reported,’ the Arsenal boss said.

With the returns of Calafiori and Hincapie, Arteta now has a fully fir squad at his disposal with Max Dowman the only absentee, still recovering from an ankle injury.

Kai Havertz meanwhile has made two appearances off the bench since returning from his knee injury but remained on the bench in the last two outings against Nottingham Forest and Inter.

‘Well, he is very close. Obviously he has been out for a long time, almost a year for different reasons and now we have to be very smart in the manner that we manage that load, the minutes,’ Arteta said of the German.

‘I am sure in the next few weeks he is going to play in minutes. I cannot tell you which competition because that will depend as well on the game context, and it is a context that is positive to throw him in or not with his qualities.

‘It is great that we have him. We can use him in different positions. We will see him in different positions and we are really happy to have him.’