Cole won't rush return

Ashley Cole has no intention of risking another injury setback by rushing his return to the Arsenal first team.

The England defender has been sidelined since mid-January after straining a thigh muscle in a substitute appearance against Middlesbrough, which was his return to action after more than three months out with a broken foot.

And while his team-mates were preparing for their Champions League clash in Madrid, Cole was playing in a behind-closed-doors friendly with Barnet. The 25-year-old left-back felt some pain following his 68 minutes of action, and is determined to take things slowly.

“It is hard to set a date with muscle injuries,” said Cole, who continues to be linked with a big-money move to Spain.

“You can come in one day and it will be alright. I did not have any pain for a week and a half, but then I felt it at the end of the [Barnet] game.

“You never know, you can get little twinges, rip a little bit of scar tissue and it flares up even more, so I will just have to wait and see how it reacts.”

Cole is set to feature for the reserves, against Tottenham, next week.

And the defender insists he will not put any time frame on when he may return to the first-team squad, with Arsene Wenger’s men travelling to Blackburn for tomorrow’s Barclays Premiership clash as they look to build on their magnificent victory in the Bernabeu with another solid team performance at Ewood Park.

Cole told the club’s official website, www.arsenal.com: “I am happy to be back, but I am still not 100%.

“The setback devastated me, so I am not going to set a date for my [first-team] return.

“I will come back when I do not feel the injury, because if I come back too soon it could go again and I will be out even longer. There is no point rushing.”

Although Cole had been approaching full-match fitness following his broken foot, Wenger had hoped to ease him back into the first team.

However, following a first-half injury to Pascal Cygan, the left-back was called into action sooner than expected.

“Before the Middlesbrough game I was flying,” Cole recalled.

“I trained really hard that week and I did not think I would be involved, but then the boss told me I was in the squad.

“Pascal went down early in the game, I went to warm up, but I only had time to run to the corner flag before I had to go on.

“After being out for three months, it probably was not the best thing for me.”

Cole added: “It has been difficult because I came back from the foot injury feeling really sharp, as fit as I could be really, and I was fresh after not playing many games earlier in the season.”