Arsenal star returns early from injury in huge title race boost for Mikel Arteta

After picking up a calf injury just before the international break, there were rumours Eze was going to be absent for as long as six weeks. In a live stream of Thursday's training session, which was shared on the club's official app, Eze was involved with the team.

It's currently unclear as to whether he will be fit for Arsenal in this weekend's Premier League home clash against AFC Bournemouth. However, the fact he is back in training suggests he could be available for the crucial away clash against Manchester City the following week.

Goals and chances have been hard to come by for the Gunners, particularly in the FA Cup exit to Southampton, since Eze picked up his injury. They also found Sporting Lisbon difficult to overcome in the Champions League, but Gabriel Martinelli's perfect pass to Kai Havertz saw the Gunners beat the Portuguese side 1-0 in the first-leg of their quarter-final tie.

There was one disappointing casualy from the clash against Sporting as Martin Odegaard went down during the match and limped off with an injury. The captain was one of many players to be missing in training today.

As well as Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Jurrien Timber, Riccardo Calafiori and Piero Hincapie were also missing from training today. Calafioro played the full 90 minutes against Sporting and it's understood the Italian missed the session so he could rest and recover.

Meanwhile, Saka has not featured for Arsenal since the League Cup final while Hincapie is understood to be facing a period on the side-lines after picking up a hamstring injury in the international break.

These are all things Arteta will have to deal with as the Gunners head into the final seven matches of their Premier League campaign. The Spaniard will at least be in a better mood after his side responded to the League Cup final loss to City and the shock FA Cup exit to Southampton by claiming a vital 1-0 away victory over Sporting.

After the match, the Gunners boss said: "Extremely happy, obviously. It was a big night, a big moment in the season. Especially where we're coming from. I think we had a point to prove. And yesterday I talked about identity and the things that I wanted to see on that pitch. It certainly happened.

"Certainly, there was a shift there. And then we played our opponent. It's very tricky, very difficult to play. That's the reason why they won 17 games in a row here. They haven't lost for a long, long time and really had to earn it. We had moments of real dominance with a lot of situations in and around the box without creating enough threat sometimes.

"Lacking to be a bit crispier, the movement a bit sharper, the final ball. But we took the game where we wanted. But after saying that, we knew as well that it's a team extremely dangerous when they have space to run, and they have two situations where David [Raya] had to intervene in a brilliant way.

"And then, again, the story of the season, the finish is coming when the most important part of the game is about to happen and then make the difference for us to go and win it."

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