Bukayo Saka is back in the squad for Saturday's Premier League meeting with Newcastle at the Emirates, the first time our best player will be involved since the Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester City a month ago. Riccardo Calafiori is back alongside him, with only Jurrien Timber still missing from the group Mikel Arteta would want available, and all of this arrives at the exact moment it needs to, with five league games left and a title race that has narrowed to almost nothing.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference on Friday, Arteta said of Saka’s recent absence: "We have given him some time because there was a moment that he was struggling to sustain the performances because he wasn't comfortable at all and we've done that so he had the right treatment, the right space. He had some time as well for himself and now it's the most important part of the season and he's back with us."

There is also a subtle message to Saka there that he needs to step up his performance in the final sprint of the season.

We are level on 70 points with Manchester City, identical on goal difference, and trailing only because City have scored three more goals than us across the season. Five games separate us from a first Premier League title in 22 years, and the numbers on Saka tells us why this weekend matters. We have a 73% win ratio and average 2.36 points per game when Saka starts, but without him our win ratio collapses to 45% and the points-per-game average falls to 1.64.

Across a full season, the gap between those two versions of Arsenal is the gap between a title and fourth place. Although he has not been at his best this season — in the Premier League he has six goals and three assists in 28 appearances — he remains the most consistent creator in the squad even as Arteta has cycled through multiple attacking configurations to cover for his absence.

Calafiori returning is another big boost for us. The Italian opened the season with a header in our 1-0 away win at Manchester United on the first weekend and has added a goal plus two assists across 22 Premier League appearances, despite a stop-start campaign physically.

Arteta was asked directly if Arsenal had accepted that Calafiori would miss games because of what he offers when fit, and the manager's answer was honest: "You accept certain situations because it is what it is, but we are trying to implement a lot of things to give ourselves a better chance. He's been much better this season than he was in the previous season."

Timber remains out with the groin issue that has kept him sidelined since coming off against Everton in mid-March, and Arteta was brief on the subject with no indication of when he is expected to return. That is a loss, no question, but given where we were a week ago, staring at an injury list that included Saka, Calafiori, Timber and Mikel Merino all at once, getting two back for the most important weekend of the season is a genuine lift.

While we have two important players coming back from injury, Newcastle arrive at the Emirates with two of their best players missing through injury. Eddie Howe confirmed that Anthony Gordon and Tino Livramento are both out: Gordon, their top scorer, with a hip problem. while Livramento with a thigh injury that may rule him out for the rest of the season.

Newcastle have not won any of their last 13 Premier League away games at Arsenal and have scored just one goal across their last nine visits to this ground. Our defensive record against them and their current form — they have lost eight of their last 11 Premier League matches — should see us take all three points. However, as always, we can’t afford to be complacent.

Opta's supercomputer still has Arsenal as title favourites, with a 65.51% chance of lifting the trophy against City's 34.49%. That figure was around 97% two weeks ago. The media has already announced City as the winners and labelled us as the team that always ‘bottles it.’. For the first time in a month, though, Arteta walks into a matchday with his best winger in the squad, his left-back back in training, and a visiting team in a bad run of form. This is a great opportunity for the team to go on a run and wrest the initiative back from City. The title race restarts tomorrow.