Arsenal are keeping a close eye on the fitness of Mohamed Elneny ahead of Sunday's Premier League clash with Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium.
The Egypt international was a notable absentee from the squad to face Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend due to a knee injury which he sustained in training.
In Elneny's absence, Matt Smith was promoted to the bench for the North London derby, where goals from Martin Odegaard and a Hugo Lloris own goal gave the Gunners a 2-0 win.
Elneny has played second fiddle to Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka this term, but he started and scored in last week's 3-0 FA Cup third-round win over Oxford United.
According to football.london, Arsenal are continuing to monitor Elneny's progress from his injury, but the former Basel man is still classed as a doubt for the visit of the Red Devils.
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The report adds that Elneny is yet to take part in training with Arsenal this week as club doctors assess his problem, and Mikel Arteta has been working with a number of academy starlets in the Egyptian's absence.
As well as Smith, the duo of Catalin Cirjan and Ben Cottrell have been involved with the first team this week, while Albert Sambi Lokonga is another option in the middle of the park for Arteta.
Elneny has only made eight appearances this season owing to a serious hamstring injury, which he sustained in Arsenal's 2-1 win over Fulham on August 27 - his only Premier League start this season so far.
Since recovering from the issue, which kept him sidelined for 13 games, the 30-year-old has appeared as a late substitute in top-flight wins over Chelsea, Brighton & Hove Albion, West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Elneny, who is out of contract in the summer, has a total of six goals and 10 assists in 155 matches for Arsenal since joining from Basel in January 2016, making him their longest-serving current senior player.
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Elneny could be one of four Arsenal absentees for the clash with Erik ten Hag's side, as Gabriel Jesus is still recovering from knee surgery and is expected to remain out for another couple of months.
Reiss Nelson has also spent over a month out with a thigh issue sustained in a mid-season friendly against Juventus on December 17, and the visit of Man United is also expected to come too soon for him.
Third-choice right-back Cedric Soares also missed the North London derby with a muscular issue and will need a once-over, but the Portuguese defender could be on his way out in January anyway.
Fulham are understood to be in talks to sign Cedric either on loan or permanently, having stepped up their interest in the past few days, but Arteta views the 31-year-old as an important part of his squad and may be reluctant to let him leave in January.
Arsenal hold an eight-point lead over Manchester City at the top of the table, but that gap will be cut down to six points if Man United overcome Crystal Palace on Wednesday evening.
Ben Knapton
