Fabio Vieira and Thomas Partey have been out with injuries since last year (Picture: Getty)
Arsenal midfielders Thomas Partey and Fabio Vieira have returned to first-team training ahead of the side’s Champions League round of 16 clash with Porto.
Partey has been sidelined with a thigh injury since October, last featuring for the Gunners as a substitute in their 1-0 victory over Premier League title rivals Manchester City.
The 30-year-old underwent surgery on his thigh after sustaining the injury in the final few moments of a training session prior to the Gunners’ Champions League group stage encounter with Sevilla.
While Partey was pictured in training earlier this month and appeared to be closing in on his comeback against Liverpool, the Ghana international suffered a another frustrating setback which put his return on hold.
‘With Thomas, unfortunately we had a little setback a few days ago so he’s not going to be available to be in the squad,’ Arteta told reporters at the time.
‘Whether it’s a matter of days or weeks, we will see, but he had a little thing.’
However, there are hopes Partey has turned a corner in his rehabilitation, with the ex-Atletico Madrid man given a warm welcomed back to training by his Arsenal team-mates on Tuesday morning.
According to football.london, Vieira was also in attendance at the open training session at London Colney, with the Portuguese stepping up his recovery from a groin problem.
Vieira has been out with the injury since November and Arteta confirmed the Portuguese was ‘very close’ to returning to action last week.
There was no sign of injured trio Gabriel Jesus, Takehiro Tomiyasu or Oleksandr Zinchenko at Tuesday’s training session.
Arteta’s squad are due to travel to Portugal this evening ahead of the first leg of the side’s 16 tie at Porto’s Estadio do Dragao tomorrow night.
Arsenal have hit their stride after a shaky run of results over the winter period, romping to a 5-0 victory at Burnley at the weekend – their fifth straight win in the English top flight.
The north London giants return to Premier League action next Saturday when they welcome Newcastle to the Emirates, before travelling to Bramall Lane to face lowly Sheffield United.
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