The international break is here, and Arsenal have three wishes to complete a perfect fortnight and welcome back some key stars whilst working ahead of the January transfer window
It's here! Yes, the very exciting international break that we all absolutely could not live without has arrived and sadly for the final time in 2023, with Arsenal's domestic action and recovering momentum being stalled until November 25 when they travel to Brentford in a weekend which could be defining for the title race.
All jokes aside, the break does provide Arsenal the chance for some rest and recovery ahead of what is expected to be a very hectic Christmas period. The club have just finished a run of three weeks with continual midweek and weekend matches and will return to play ten games in 37 days meaning playing a match in a period of less than once every four days.
The squad is going to need to be ready to cope with additional stress and are already experiencing a number of key absences. But injuries are not the only things the break is good for and with this being the last round of international fixtures before the next transfer window they will also be on the agenda as football.london takes a look at just what a dream fortnight might look like.
No new injuries please
Arsenal have a total of 17 senior players heading off to represent their countries over the break. Some are involved in low-pressure matches like friendlies whilst others have extremely important qualifiers to feature in and the club will hope they can all avoid injury.
Oleksandr Zinchenko for instance sees his Ukraine side face Italy in a massive match aiming to beat their opponents into European Championship qualification. Leandro Trossard will feature for Belgium whilst Kai Havertz remains part of the Germany squad.
Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Magalhaes have all been called up for Brazil with the former still not yet ready to play according to Mikel Arteta. Mohamed Elneny plays again for the Egyptian national side.
Gareth Southgate has called up Aaron Ramsdale, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka but there's still no room for Ben White. Karl Hein will play again for Estonia with William Saliba back in the French side having missed the last breakthrough injury.
On-loan keeper Alex Runarsson is with Iceland whilst fellow stopper David Raya continues to push for a starting spot in the Spain squad with Unai Simon. Jorginho has been recalled to the Italy squad, Takehiro Tomiyasu is hoping to help Japan continue their impressive form and Jakub Kiwior is in for Poland.
Odegaard and Jesus recover
Martin Odegaard had been expected to travel for Norway's matches during the break but the issue which has prevented him from involvement in the last few of Arsenal's games, outside of a small cameo at West Ham, will mean he does stay behind. Arteta was hopeful to have him back when the international games are over.
"I don't know," he said when asked for an update. "I'm going to have a meeting now with the medical department to understand everybody's situation and I think he is going to be back after the International break but I don't know exactly what the decision is and the communication at the moment."
Meanwhile, Gabriel Jesus has travelled to Brazil for their matches as mentioned above despite Arteta's insistence he is not ready. He spoke after the game with apparent puzzlement at the idea he would play for his country.
"He's far from working with the team, but it's an internal communication between the club and the national team," he said. "The first intention is always to seek the best for the player."
The break will hopefully allow for both players to recover significantly and be ready for the next run of games. Meanwhile, Thomas Partey, Emile Smith Rowe and of course, Jurrien Timber do not appear to be close to coming back when the break ends.
Early transfer talks
Sporting director Edu Gaspar travelled to Brazil recently to visit Fluminense. It was not a trip that has been revealed, at least not yet, to have any relation to potential transfer work but it did display some of the Brazilian's roles for when the club are not in action.
This counts for work on transfers of course and teams can indeed agree on deals outside of the window to be confirmed for when it opens. Liverpool did this in December of last year with Cody Gakpo although that was well past the last break.
There are needs in midfield, defence and in the forward line and many hope, perhaps optimistically, that the Gunners will be busy in the winter window. Getting plenty of work done in these two weeks will be important.
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