Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal have, on Friday, been afforded an altogether timely boost on the personnel front.
The Gunners are of course set to bring their season to a close this weekend.
Ahead of welcoming Everton to the Emirates on Sunday evening, Arsenal trail north London rivals Tottenham by two points in the race for the Premier League’s final top-4 berth.
In turn, though it remains a long shot, Arteta and co. could yet defy the odds to clinch a return to the Champions League at the very last.
To be in with any shot of doing so, though, they will of course first need to secure all three points against an Everton outfit brimming with confidence on the back of a comeback 3-2 downing of Crystal Palace on Thursday.
And, as alluded to above, just 48 hours out from the capital clash, Arsenal’s hopes of precisely that have been handed a boost.
This comes in the form of confirmation that Gabriel Magalhaes and Emile Smith Rowe, both viewed as doubts to feature this weekend owing to fitness issues, on Friday returned to first-team training.
Gabriel and Smith Rowe trained. Same quintet of youngsters – Patino, Flores, Salah-Eddine, Swanson and Dinzeyi – continuing to train with first-team.
— Jeorge Bird (@jeorgebird) May 20, 2022
Falling at the final hurdle
Should Arsenal ultimately go on to get the better of Everton on Sunday, it will likely have come by means of a much-improved performance on the part of the capital club.
Having so recently looked a near certainty to clinch the Premier League’s final top-4 berth, the Gunners have faltered at the worst possible moment.
A 3-0 North London Derby drubbing at the hands of Spurs was followed last time out by an altogether deserved 2-0 defeat at Newcastle, leaving Arteta’s side requiring something of a miracle to make their Champions League-shaped dreams come true.
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