Arsenal midfielder Santi Cazorla has disputed his manager's assessment of his recovery, claiming he will be back by the start of next month.
On Tuesday Arsene Wenger warned that the 31-year-old could be a doubt for much of the remainder of the season having picked up damage to his achilles whilst recovering from the knee injury that has sidelined him since November.
"He has some Achilles problems that hold him back," Wenger said. "His knee is doing well but his Achilles has inflamed a little bit and we have to put him off impact.
"We have to see now how he responds. He had always a little tendonitis on his Achilles and we have to see how he responds to that."
With Jack Wilshere unlikely to make his season debut for several months and Aaron Ramsey struggling to settle alongside Francis Coquelin the extended absence of his deep-lying conductor represented a cruel blow to Wenger's title hopes.
However Cazorla has thrown doubt on to Wenger's assessment of his injury, posting on his Twitter account that his recovery was going as expected and he hoped to return by April 1.
That return would still represent a more minor setback for Cazorla, who had said last month that he hoped to play a part in the return leg of Arsenal's Champions League tie with Barcelona in mid-March.
A return at the start of next month would allow the Spaniard to play a role in a potentially critical run of fixtures that includes away trips to West Ham and Manchester City.
