Arsenal injury news: Kieran Tierney returns to training ahead of Benfica and Manchester City games

Arsenal v Newcastle United - Premier League
Arsenal FC via Getty Images
Jack Rosser @JackRosser_16 February 2021

Kieran Tierney has returned to Arsenal training after missing the last six games with a leg strain.

The Scot has been instrumental to how Mikel Arteta's side have played this season and his absence has been keenly felt by the north London side.

Tierney has not played since mid-January having suffered a strain to his lower leg and missed out as Arsenal were knocked out of the FA Cup by Southampton as well as beaten by Wolves and Aston Villa.

Arsenal claimed a point against Manchester United and beat Southampton and Leeds in the Premier League without the Scotland international, but replacement Cedric does not have the same impact as the former Celtic man.

But as the Gunners manager and his squad prepare to begin their Europa League knockout campaign against Benfica this week, there was a boost with the 23-year-old returning to training.

The club shared a video of Arteta's squad training on social media in which Tierney can be seen playing in a small-sided game against teammates and scoring.

Arsenal face Benfica in Rome for the first leg of their last-32 Europa League tie, with games against Manchester City and Leicester on the horizon in the Premier League, meaning Tierney's return is timely ahead of an important run.

Asked after the victory over Leeds at the weekend whether Tierney - or injured midfielder Thomas Partey - would be ready for Thursday's game or Sunday's visit from Manchester City, Arteta said: "It seems unlikely at the moment. Probably if there’s one player who’s got a bigger chance it’s Kieran. Because probably in the next few days he can start to do some parts with the team. But I don’t know how he’s going to cope when he starts to get a little bit more closer to training with the group."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in