Mexico forward Jimenez suffered the severe harm in an aerial project with former Arsenal defender David Luiz throughout Wolves' 2-1 win on the Emirates Stadium in November 2020. But following eight months out on the sidelines, and having been warned by means of medical doctors it'd be "a miracle" if he performed again, Jimenez is set to lead the road for Wolves, simply two factors in the back of 6th-placed Arsenal, in Thursday's Premier League match on the Emirates.
This week's in shape may be performed in the front of a crowd whereas the one where Jimenez suffered his extreme damage became played at the back of closed doorways due to coronavirus regulations. And that intended Arteta, as well as seeing the collision, additionally heard the sound of the impact from his function inside the Gunners' dugout.
"Straight away you spot the reaction, the anxiety that abruptly is in the crew docs and everybody involved trying to determine what became occurring, it was frightening," Arteta instructed a pre-healthy information convention on Wednesday as he recalled the incident. "Thanks to the medical group, they likely saved him at that moment from something that might were a great deal worse and for the recovery that he's completed. "It's top notch that after that he is come returned so quick, performing and scoring dreams like he's doing. Thank God it ended the right way, but it looked definitely, definitely horrific."
Luiz, who has on the grounds that left the Gunners, remained in contact with Jimenez throughout his rehabilitation, as did Arsenal. "Of route we had been (in touch) and David become as well because he become without delay involved and he become definitely affected by that," said Arteta. "We are colleagues at the cease. We proportion the equal career and enterprise. When something like that occurs you are emotionally concerned."
Arsenal won 1-0 at Molineux when the edges met inside the opposite fixture only a fortnight in the past, with Thursday's game initially postponed in the course of the Christmas and New Year agenda. That opposite become a unprecedented recent slip-up for Wolves, who had received the opposite five of their previous six league games, together with victories over Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester within the beyond week.
Spanish boss Arteta is in no doubt that Wolves are proper challengers along Arsenal for a top-4 finish and a place in subsequent season's Champions League. "They look like it," he said. "The manner they may be playing and the outcomes they are getting, the consistency they may be displaying. For sure. You look at the last games as nicely and how they played in opposition to those teams, they're going to be up there."
