Arsenal reportedly look set to be handed a major injury boost with the news that Jurrien Timber is set to return to first-team action after the international break.

Club football has just broken up for the next week, but after that we could finally see Timber in contention to get some minutes under his belt for the Gunners, according to football.london.

Of course, it seems unlikely that Mikel Arteta would necessarily be prepared to throw Timber straight in at the deep end for Arsenal’s upcoming fixture against Manchester City, so it may be that the Dutchman will have to be patient before getting a run of games together.

Still, all in all this can only be good news for Arsenal, who have been without Timber ever since the first Premier League game of the season against Nottingham Forest, when the former Ajax man ended up picking up a dreaded ACL injury.

Timber looked hugely impressive in pre-season for Arteta’s side and fans will no doubt be eager to see him back soon, especially now as we approach the business end of the 2023/24 campaign.

Timber return coming at the ideal time for Arsenal

With some major injuries last season, Arsenal ended up falling at the final hurdle, giving up a big lead in the Premier League title race and ultimately losing out to Man City, who won the treble.

Things might’ve been very different if AFC had been able to call on William Saliba in that run-in, so if Timber now comes back to give them more depth in April and May, it could be a game-changer in the title race and also in the latter stages of the Champions League.

The 22-year-old can offer Arsenal depth at centre-back, right-back and left-back, so that will hopefully mean opportunities for key players like Saliba, Ben White and Oleksandr Zinchenko to rest and not burn themselves out too much over this period.