Unai Emery has been boosted with the positive news that Paris Saint-Germain trio Thiago Silva, Marco Verratti and Layvin Kurzawa are all expected to be fully fit within the next week.
Verratti and Kurzawa were both made to miss their respective national teams' final World Cup qualifiers, with the Italian suffering from an unspecified issue and the France left-back picking up a knee problem.
Thiago Silva managed to play a part in Brazil's latest selection and featured against Bolivia, but he was then ruled out of their 3-0 win over Chile with a thigh strain.
Emery is relieved to be able to confirm that none of them are serious problems, with Verratti able to feature against Dijon on Saturday, while the other two will be in contention for next Wednesday's Champions League trip to Anderlecht.
Talking to reporters at his pre-match media conference, Emery said: "The two weeks here during the international break allowed him [Verratti] to work.
"On Wednesday he did half the training; today [Thursday] he must do it all. I think he can play against Dijon.
"Verratti is a very important young player who has made progress here. We will help him progress with competition, working on what he can improve. We will ensure that he can give the best to the team.
"Thiago Silva went to the training centre this morning. His injury is not thought to be significant.
"He may not be in the group on Saturday, but Wednesday yes. Kurzawa is the same – he ran [in training].
"We think he will be ready on Wednesday for the Champions League game."
It was suggested to Emery that the in-form Edinson Cavani could be tired after featuring for Uruguay during the international break, but the Spanish coach is not too worried about the striker.
"We have many players who can adapt in attack," Emery said. "We'll see how he is.
"In general he is recovering well. If a player is not 100 per cent ready, we will think of someone else – [Kylian] Mbappe or another.
"The most important thing is the condition of the players, physically and psychologically."
