Netherlands boss Ronald Koeman has issued a worrying update on the fitness of injured Arsenal defender Jurrien Timber.
The 24-year-old had been a mainstay of the Arsenal mean machine that has powered Mikel Arteta’s side to the brink of Premier League glory.
Arsenal have, however, been forced to cope without their first choice right-back since he limped out of a 2-0 win over Everton on March 14 with a groin injury.
Arteta had claimed ahead of last night’s win over Burnley that the former Ajax star had made significant progress and could yet feature before the end of the campaign.
The Gunners still have two games left to play starting with Crystal Palace on Sunday before taking on Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final the following week.
Timber would have been targeting a comeback in either of those two games before featuring at the World Cup, but that prospect appears increasingly remote.
‘Jurrien has been dealing with this for quite some time,’ Koeman told NU.
‘He is now training up again to see if he can make the Champions League final and if he is available for the World Cup. It doesn’t look rosy at the moment.’
An ’emotional’ Declan Rice said Arsenal never stopped believing they could win the Premier League, with the club on the brink of a first title in 22 years.
Arsenal looked to have blown their bid to claim a first championship since Arsene Wenger’s ‘Invincibles’ triumphed in 2004 after they lost to rivals Manchester City on April 19.
Sitting on the Etihad Stadium pitch, Rice told his team-mates ‘it’s not done’ and the Gunners, runners-up for the past three seasons, bounced back by winning their next four without conceding.
‘Look, it is in our hands,’ said Rice. ‘We have turned it around. We have won every game since we last lost and that is all we tried to do, to keep winning and to stay positive.
‘We knew on the inside that we had the belief and we could still win it. We haven’t won it yet, there is still one to go. And Sunday is going to be proper.
‘But it’s emotional because where this club has come from over the last 10 years – the ups and downs. I wasn’t here before, but I knew about it, I heard about it and to be a part of what is going on now is so special.
‘This club deserves really good things and we have worked really hard towards that, so let’s keep pushing.’