Hector Bellerin could face Stoke, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger says
Thursday 8 December 2016 10:31, UK
Hector Bellerin could return to the Arsenal squad for this weekend's Premier League game against Stoke.
The Spain international, who signed a new long-term contract in November, has missed six games with ankle ligament damage.
Arsene Wenger ruled out Bellerin for four weeks on November 17, but the full-back is in line to return ahead of schedule this weekend if he passes a fitness test.
"Coming back into the squad are Francis Coquelin, who was suspended at Basel, and maybe Bellerin," Wenger said at his pre-match press conference on Thursday. "He will have a test."
Arsenal have used three players at right-back in Bellerin's absence, Mathieu Debuchy's latest injury and Carl Jenkinson's loss of form giving centre-half Gabriel a chance out wide.
Danny Welbeck and Per Mertesacker are "recovering well but still a few weeks away", according to their manager, who confirmed Santi Cazorla's recent foot surgery "went well".
Cazorla described the operation as "perfect", and Wenger said: "It's difficult to say surgery is perfect but it was needed and it went well. After we have to see how he will recover.
"We are positive, but once you open your body it means two months at least before you play again."