Arsenal have been handed a boost with the news that Danny Welbeck could return from injury ahead of schedule.
The England international suffered a second serious knee injury in the space of a year towards the end of last season and it was feared the forward would be sidelined until April 2017 at the earliest.
But Wenger confirmed on Thursday the 25-year-old's rehabilitation is ahead of schedule and hopes to be able to filed Welbeck before the New Year.
"He has an inflammation of his knee and they had to go in again to see if it is healing well or not," Wenger said.
"If the healing was not good, he would have been out until April.
"The news was excellent and he will be back around Christmas. He had a second check, not a procedure, a check with a camera inside.
"That was the good news of last week, the only good news. That was very positive."
