Arsenal striker Danny Welbeck will be back at the start of next year, manager Arsene Wenger has revealed.
The Englishman was supposed to be back in action two months before the end of this campaign but the Frenchman gave the positive news that he will be back in training much earlier than expected.
The 25-year-old was ruled out for months following a knee surgery in May and was forced to miss the Euro 2016 tournament in France.
"The good news is that they had to go in and check how [his knee] is healing, and if the inflammation is healing," Wenger told the club's official website.
"It is healing even better than expected so we think he will be back in the New Year.
"It could've been April, so we gained two or three months on the last medical check.
"It gives him a lift because it motivates him to accelerate the process a little bit because when you don't know what is going on inside the knee, you are a bit uncertain.
"Now he knows, he can go and work hard, so that is very good news."
