This was encapsulated perfectly by Martin Odegaard’s injury during the September break that sees the club captain out at this very moment with no indication of a specific return to date. Mikel Arteta has spoken openly of his view on the topic saying: “I prefer not to watch the games!
“I pray that everybody is going to be fine, because the last one was a really difficult one to handle in many ways.” With that in mind, football.london theorises what a perfect international break might look like for the Gunners.
Saka and Rice rest
Both Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka have unsurprisingly again been called up to the England squad. Lee Carsley has made the duo a key part of his new-look England following the departure of Gareth Southgate as manager after the defeat in the final of this summer’s European Championships.
The hope will be that in the games against Greece and Finland that rotation will allow the pair to get rest in at least one game. At best though perhaps what can be hoped for is early substitutions in the games to allow some of the other talent in the squad some time, and these key members some recuperation.
Recharge time
There are plenty of players that are remaining with Arteta at the Sobha Realty Training Centre including the aforementioned Odegaard. He heads up a list of Ben White, Jurrien Timber, Kieran Tierney and Oleksandr Zinchenko who have also been joined by Kai Havertz and Thomas Partey after they both pulled out of international duty.
With so many players suffering, there is a good argument that this break couldn’t have come at a better time. Although it has interrupted the club’s flow, the allowance of further time for these injured stars to recover and rejoin the group when domestic action returns away at Bournemouth next week might indeed be a great boost to Arteta’s plans.
Valuable minutes
During some of the breaks, Arteta has decided to organise a behind-closed-doors friendly to get minutes into the legs of some of his stars not playing regularly. Having a squad ready to make an impact when called on is vital and despite some rotation against Southampton, there has been little chance to do so, so far, besides the League Cup game with Preston at the end of the month, is there perceivably another time to do so.
The likes of Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling and Takehiro Tomiyasu, as well as the yet-to-play Neto, could all do with some playing time. With good links to the likes of Watford, Brentford, Ipswich Town and others, there is no shortage of potential options for Arteta’s team to get some game time.
