Mikel Arteta upbeat on Gabriel Jesus’ return to fitness for Arsenal – ‘He’s really pushing the boundaries’

Mikel Arteta has provided an upbeat fitness bulletin on injured forward Gabriel Jesus.

The Brazilian joined Arsenal from Manchester City in the summer and played a key part in the Gunners’ fine start to the season.

Jesus’ season was cut short by an injury picked up on international duty at the World Cup with Brazil in early December.

The prognosis was that the knee injury could rule Jesus out for as long as six months.

There was a fear among Arsenal fans that Jesus’ season could have been over, but he has recently been seen working on his fitness in individual sessions and manager Arteta is happy with the 25-year-old’s progress.

“He’s progressing really well,” Arteta said. “He’s doing more and more on the field and he’s not reacting [negatively], so that’s really positive.”

Arteta says Jesus is pushing hard in a bid to get back and help Arsenal in their title push.

“We want to have him as quickly as possible but also respect the time-frame we got from the doctor and the specialists,” Arteta said. “He’s really pushing the boundaries right now.”

Thomas Partey is another player who has been struggling with injuries, but he could be in line to face Leicester City in the Premier League on Saturday.

“The question mark is on Thomas,” Arteta said of Partey. “He hasn’t trained much but it looks like he could be available, so let’s see how he trains today.

“He’s a really important player for us, who we missed in the last few games. Hopefully he can be available.”

The Gunners head into the game at Leicester with a two-point lead over Manchester City in the Premier League title race.

It was reported on Thursday that Arsenal had reached an agreement over a new contract with Bukayo Saka.

Arteta had no news other than to say Arsenal’s intention is to retain their best players, including the England international.

“We want to keep our best players, the players that we are developing,” Arteta said. “We want to create a long-term project here, and obviously, we need our best players to be committed to the club.

“That’s our responsibility to keep our best players, our best people and the people that have the same aims and purpose with the club, to keep them together for a while, give them some stability and from there keep evolving and become a better club.”