Gyokeres and Martinelli hope, huge return made - Latest Arsenal injury news before Sunderland

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Arsenal have been forced to deal with numerous injuries this season and that has resulted in Mikel Arteta's squad depth being tested

Mikel Arteta was unsurprisingly coy on Arsenal's injury news during his latest press conference before the Premier League clash against Sunderland. The Gunners have six first-team players unavailable with Noni Madueke, Viktor Gyokeres, Gabriel Martinelli, Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz all suffering their respective issues in this campaign.

Squad depth has certainly helped Arteta deal with those absentees, although he would certainly prefer to have all of them available. With that in mind, the Spaniard was on hand to provide the latest injury news on Friday.

"I can't confirm all of that, but you are not far [off]," the Arsenal boss said when asked if all five would still be out. With Madueke, Havertz and Odegaard as the long-term absentees, then it would suggest that Arteta has not yet completely ruled Martinelli or Gyokeres out of the game.

Having stated on Monday that the latter would need "tests and scans to understand the extent of the injury", it seems far more likely that Martinelli is the player in contention to return.

Pushed on whether they would be back after the November international break, he added: "Some of them, all of them I don't know. There are a lot of things that have to happen in the next two weeks, and everything has to be perfect, but I think we'll be very close with most of them to be in a really strong position."

Odegaard and Madueke are likely targeting returns for the North London Derby against rivals Tottenham later on this month, while Havertz could be a bit further back having undergone a minor procedure on his knee.

"Let's see how he absorbs the load first when he starts to train with us," Arteta said of the Germany international. "When he's done that, obviously we're going to have to - especially in the first few weeks - keep an eye on him to manage the amount of minutes and when we play him."

Gabriel Jesus is another Arsenal attacker to have underwent surgery after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) back in January. It has been a painful road to recovery for the Brazilian, but he has taken a huge step towards making a comeback by featuring in first-team training on Thursday.

"I don't know," Arteta admitted when asked how long it could be before Jesus returns. "Now it's about making the steps day-by-day in a different surrounding.

"Obviously, he has been doing everything on his own; now he's got players around him, very competitive players around him, and see how he copes with that. But he's full of energy, I love the reaction of all his teammates when he first joined us and yeah, great to have him back."