Arsenal trio of Hector Bellerin, Per Mertesacker and Olivier Giroud return to Arsenal training ahead of Basel clash

Giroud has been out since late November with a thigh problem while full-back, Bellerin last played in the the north London derby a month ago

Arsenal's Hector Bellerin during training (Photo: REUTERS)
Hector Bellerin, Olivier Giroud and Per Mertesacker have all returned to training ahead of Arsenal's Champions League match with Basel on Tuesday.
Giroud has been out since late November with a thigh problem while full-back Bellerin last played in the north London derby a month ago.
Both Carl Jenkinson and Gabriel have both deputised for the Spaniard but neither did so convincingly and Arsene Wenger will be relieved to have his first choice option close to a return.
Mertesacker, meanwhile, is yet to play at all this season after picking up a serious knee injury in July.
The German's forced absence was the catalyst for Shkodran Mustafi's signing from Valencia, and Mertesacker now finds himself as Wenger's third — or even fourth — choice centre-back.

Bellerin last played a month ago (Photo: REUTERS)

Per Mertesacker is yet to play this season (Photo: REUTERS)

Olivier Giroud, Reine-Adelaide and Theo Walcott train at London Colney (Photo: REUTERS)
Gabriel, who appeared to injure both his knee and head in Saturday's 5-1 thrashing of West Ham,trained without issue during the session at London Colney.
Arsenal travel to Switzerland on Monday evening ahead of their mid-week meeting with Basel, who currently bottom of Group A.
The Gunners have already qualified for the knockout stages but could still top the group if results go their way. They are currently level on 11 points with Paris Saint-Germain, who lead them on their head-to-head record.

Alexis Sanchez during the training (Photo: REUTERS)

Mesut Ozil and Mohammed Elneny train (Photo: REUTERS)

Sanchez shares a joke with Gabriel and Lucas (Photo: REUTERS)
Despite their strong showing at the weekend, Wenger has insisted his team can still improve.
He said: “We can do better. There is still room for improvement.
“Since the start of the season, the quality of our finishing compared to our chances is quite good. Much better than last year.
“We miss only 20 per cent of our chances, last year, we missed much more.”