We have two further players currently sidelined, including Christos Tzolis who picked up a muscular injury on international duty with Greece during the recent break, but Mikel is hopefully it’ll again be a matter of weeks, rather than months, until we see the winger back in red and white.

“He’s doing really well,” he revealed. “Yesterday he had another MRI scan to see how the injury is evolving. It's progressing really well, so he’s another one who hopefully we can have back in a few weeks.”

The other player who is currently out of action is William Saliba as he continues to recover from a back injury, which has kept him out since the end of France’s World Cup campaign.

The centre-back missed our annual squad photo this week because of a medical appointment, but Mikel eased concerns by saying Willo is also rehabbing well away from the rest of the squad, and he's keen to include him in a re-take so the whole Arsenal family can be together.

“I think next week we have another MRI with him to see how the healing process is at the moment, but every sign so far has been very, very positive,” Mikel added. “It will be great to have him. 

“We have tried to do that picture three times already, but we have had to cancel it at the last minute for different reasons. We have some commercial obligations and had people who came and flew over to do that, so we decided to take that picture at least. We'll have another picture with the whole family when hopefully we can get them all together at some point.

“It wasn't in his hands, but normally he's happy about everything. He knows how loved he is. They were having some banter at the place, so he's completely fine.”