Arteta announced: The return of four injured stars

Mikel Arteta announced the important return of Arsenal players in the latest injury report of four players.

Arsenal hope to have Martin Zubimendi on hand for Sunday's trip to Nottingham Forest, with Piero Hincape, Christos Zoulis and William Saliba all progressing well, according to Sport Three.

Zubimandi missed Tuesday's Champions League triumph over Lille with an ankle injury picked up during a training session immediately after last weekend's win over Leeds. Mikel Merino has since revealed that he was responsible for the incident after Zoubimandi suffered the accidental problem during a mini-game with his compatriot on the turf at the Emirates Stadium.

However, scans on Monday revealed the injury was not serious and Mikel Arteta will make a final decision on Zubimandi's fitness ahead of this week's trip to Nottingham Forest.

Hincape also suffered what was believed to be a more serious ankle injury in the same training session, and the defender was seen being carried off the pitch by goalkeeper Ilan Maslieh on his crutches.

Hincape was expected to be sidelined for several weeks and miss the upcoming games against Forest and Bayern Munich. However, Arteta insists the Ecuador international is recovering well and will try to return in the next two weeks.

"Pirou is progressing really well," the 44-year-old Arsenal manager told a news conference ahead of Friday's game with Forest. Considering his personality and the way he tries, I'm sure it won't take long. But he probably needs another week or two. Zobimandi is looking much better and we have another training session tomorrow. "After that we will see if he is available to play against Forest."

Arteta is also optimistic that winger Christos Zoulis is not far away from returning from the hamstring injury he suffered while playing for Greece during the recent international break.

"Zolis is really good," he said. Yesterday he had another MRI scan. "He's progressing well and hopefully he'll be another player we can have in the next few weeks."

There was a similarly positive update on William Saliba, who recently resumed individual training on the grass at Arsenal's training ground as he accelerates his recovery from a serious back injury sustained at the World Cup that has kept him out for the season.

"We have another MRI scan with him next week to see how the recovery is at the moment," Arteta said. "Every sign so far has been very, very positive."