Arsenal could have Riccardo Calafiori back for their Premier League clash with Aston Villa.

Calafiori missed games against Manchester United and Tottenham but the Italian has not been ruled out of featuring against Villa at Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

Speaking on Friday, Mikel Arteta said: “Few decisions to make this afternoon with the medical staff, to understand whether they are in the best condition [to play] this game or the next one. We’ll decide that.”

Ben White, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Bukayo Saka are among those who have faced lengthy spells on the sidelines, with Saka likely to be out until March with a hamstring injury.

White and Tomiyasu should return before then, but asked if any of those longer-term absentees were close to returning, Arteta responded: “Not so far, no.”

In the absence of a number of key defenders, there has been an added strain on those who have been fit in recent weeks.

Jurrien Timber has had injury problems of his own but has played the full 90 minutes against Newcastle and Tottenham over the last ten days, either side of featuring for 100 minutes in the FA Cup defeat to Manchester United.

“It's unbelievable what he’s done, especially because he’s done it on the right, he’s done it as a left full-back as well and we’re putting huge demands on him,” Arteta said.

“That’s the thing, when the squad is short and you have quite a lot of injuries like we had, you start to load more on the players which is not ideal.”