Arsenal injury news: Petr Cech back in training ahead of Gunners' clash against Tottenham at Wembley

KEY POINTS

Cech suffered a calf injury during Arsenal's 5-1 win over Everton last weekend (3 February).
Monreal and Welbeck also back in training after recovering from illness and injury respectively.

Arsenal have been handed a major injury boost going in to the north London derby against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday (10 February) after Petr Cech returned to full training following his injury last weekend against Everton.

The Czech goalkeeper came off in the second half during the Gunners' 5-1 win over the Toffees with a suspected calf injury. He was replaced by David Ospina, who has mainly been used in the European and domestic cup competitions this season.

Arsene Wenger revealed during his pre-match press conference that Cech was a doubt for the game as he had not trained with the team during the week making the Colombian stopper the favourite to start between the sticks against Spurs.

However, Arsenal seem to have been handed a significant boost after the former Chelsea goalkeeper was pictured at training – via the London Evening Standard – with the rest of the first-team squad on Friday (9 February), making it a possibility that he could start when Wenger's team visit Wembley for the lunchtime kick-off.

Cech is still waiting for his record 200<sup>th clean sheet in the Premier League and it is going to be a hard task to keep Tottenham at bay if he plays the entire 90 minutes on Saturday. Arsenal's defensive record has been poor this season having conceded 35 goals – the highest among the clubs in the top seven – while they have also failed to keep a clean sheet in the last eight league games.

Cech was the only doubt after Wenger confirmed the return of Danny Welbeck, who has been out for almost a month with a hip injury. The English striker is unlikely to get into the starting XI, but could join Alexandre Lacazette on the bench with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang taking over the position of first choice number nine.

Nacho Monreal has also overcome the illness that affected him during the game against Everton and is likely to return at left-back. However it remains to be seen if Wenger will continue with a back four or revert to the previously used 3-5-2 formation.