Danny Welbeck expects to return to Arsenal team in the New Year

I had to do a lot of machine work, about six hours a day.

The former Manchester United forward has been quoted in the Express as saying that he finally feels on the road to recovery after getting out of his leg brace and walking again and he expects to be back in action at the turn of the year. It feels like I’m getting that little bit closer to getting back out on the pitch.

The England global hasn’t kicked a ball in anger since picking up an injury in late April and he admits that he’s found his lengthy stint on the sidelines very frustrating. But you just have to keep motivated.

How is your rehabilitation going and when will you be back on the pitch? At night it’s not comfortable, it’s the first time I’ve slept on my back in years.

“There’s not one game where you can take your foot off the gas and we’ve got to be prepared mentally, physically and tactically for every single match we go into to”.

“It’s just like me if I hadn’t progressed the club after the ’94 team or the ’99 team I would maybe having the same problems as Arsene, but he’s stayed with his conviction, he’s stayed with what he believes in”, Ferguson said, in an interview with ESPN.

Arsenal fans have something of a reputation for dominating the Twitter debate, sometimes with a few extreme views, but this could be one of the best of the lot. Every three points is going to be vital. So it’s hard but you’ve got to see the positive side of things at times.

Criticism reached a crescendo after they began their Champions League-campaign with two shock defeats, this being assuaged by the 3-0 Premier League-mauling of Manchester United – the boyhood club he joined the Gunners from in September 2014 – on October 4.