Arsenal's Key Players Return for Community Shield Against Manchester City

Mikel Arteta will have Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka back at his disposal when Arsenal face Manchester City in the Community Shield on Sunday.

The pair have rejoined full training after extended breaks following England’s run to the World Cup semi-finals in North America and are in contention for minutes in Cardiff, where the Premier League champions meet the FA Cup holders in the traditional season curtain-raiser.

Midfield partner Martin Zubimendi is also available after helping Spain lift the World Cup last month and then reporting back to London Colney.

“They will be available,” Arteta said of Rice, Saka and Zubimendi at his pre-match press conference on Friday. “They trained with us today, they will train tomorrow. If they are in the condition we expect them to be, they will be involved.”

Saka had initially been scheduled to return to club duty on Monday, but he and Spain goalkeeper David Raya cut their holidays short and came back on Saturday, eager to rejoin preparations.

Arteta has already welcomed back Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke and Mikel Merino as well. All three featured in Wednesday’s pre-season draw with Como, as did Raya. The mood around the squad is lifting, but the injury list still bites: William Saliba faces a lengthy spell out with a back problem that worsened during the World Cup. The issue does not require surgery, yet it will keep the centre-back sidelined for an extended period.

Saka spent much of the second half of last season managing an Achilles problem. Rice, during the World Cup, spoke openly about neural pain in his hamstring that had troubled him since Christmas, followed by a calf issue and a bout of illness. Both carried heavy loads. Both looked exhausted by May.

Arteta believes the break has reset them.

“We haven’t noticed anything,” he said. “They have individual plans. Through the time they had with the national team they’ve been trying to evolve those issues and they have improved.

“In the rest period that they had, they both had specific programmes for themselves. They’ve been doing those and so far what I saw the last two or three days, it was really good.”

One key defender will not be there in Cardiff. Jurrien Timber remains out, still battling the groin injury that has dogged him since March.

The Dutch international missed the World Cup entirely, his only taste of major action a brief appearance off the bench in the Champions League final in May. Arteta said earlier this week that Timber was still “weeks away” from a return, and that timeline has not shifted dramatically, even as the updates grow more upbeat.

“[He is] progressing really well,” Arteta said ahead of the clash with a City side now coached by former Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca. “He’s on the pitch, we’re ramping up now certain actions, especially the volume and the load.

“I think he’s on a good trajectory but still a few weeks to go. With Willy [Saliba], it is a more long-term injury.”

Could Timber make it back before the international break next month? Arteta would not commit.

“I don’t know. We have to wait and see,” he admitted. “He needs to start to train with the group in the next week or so hopefully and then see how he progresses from there.

“But obviously it’s been a long-term issue and we want to make sure that every step that we take is the right one. He’s such an important player for us.”

So Arsenal head into the first showpiece of the season with their attacking heartbeat restored, their midfield bolstered, but their defensive plans still patched together. Against a reshaped City under Maresca, Cardiff might offer an early glimpse of whether this version of Arteta’s side is ready to take the final step—or whether the same old fault lines will define another campaign.