Danny Welbeck is expected to feature for Arsenal today against Burnley today.

The striker making a long-awaited Emirates return, almost nine months on from his last home appearance after a serious knee injury.

Wenger hopes the former Manchester United forward, at 26 years old, is out of the woods at last after two years of injury hell.

"I touch wood, hope. He's not completely out of it," he says. "It was bone inflammation and that takes a huge time to get completely rid of. You have to be very careful not to have a set-back.

"You have some players, they have big injuries and you observe them in the first three months and you think: “My friend, you will struggle," because they always have the handbrake on.

"And some players, they come back and behave like they have never been injured. He is one of them. In his first training session you say 'Come on, don't go in for too much contact straight away', but he is like that.

"He is a young promising striker, he has fantastic spirit and you do not see people with that. People sense this, that he has a great spirit. He's genuine, committed and humble. You do not find that too many times altogether.

"Maybe, as well, people feel sorry for a guy who basically couldn't play for two years. This links together — and for me he's rightly hugely popular."