Portsmouth boss delivers key update on Arsenal midfielder with testing fixtures against likes of Rothetham United, Ipswich Town and Bolton Wanderers on horizon

The on-loan Arsenal midfielder has recovered from a troublesome groin injury - and is now set to kickstart his Pompey career.

Azeez has been restricted to just a single appearance in the 2-1 home defeat by Cambridge, since agreeing a season-long loan deal in August.

The 19-year-old is now over that issue and trained all week, after linking up with the England under-20 set-up.

Azeez was given a 17-minute runout in the Three Lions’ 1-1 draw with Italy at Chesterfield on Thursday night.

He is now in line for further minutes, with England taking on the Czech Republic on Monday before facing Portugal on Thursday, keeping the loanee out of Tuesday’s EFL Trophy clash with Sutton United.

Pompey face a testing run of fixtures on the horizon, with the likes of Rotherham, Ipswich Town, Accrington, Bolton and Wycombe to come.

Cowley is upbeat about having Azeez’s services for those games.

He said: ‘The good news is he trained all week.

‘We had a good chat with England last week, gave him permission to go and spoke to Arsenal.

‘He was just coming off the back of his rehab here and was on the grass, but we knew he wouldn’t be ready to train with us here.

‘So it made sense for him to go and they have wrapped him up in cotton wool for the first few days, hence why he only came off the bench against Italy.

‘They’ve got another game against the Czech Republic Monday and he may start in that.’