Following the victory over Southampton in the Premier League, Arsenal has a contingent of players that will be traveling to their respective countries for international duty.
The first set of games will take place on Thursday, October 10th, with five Gunners featuring in three Nations League games. William Saliba is odds to play in the heart of France’s defense when they take on Israel in Budapest, Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice will host Greece at Wembley, then two Arsenal players lock horns when Riccardo Calafiori’s Italy takes on Leandro Trossard’s Belgium.
Friday’s action will take place in Santiago, as Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel have been called up to the Brazil squad that visits Peru. Gabriel Jesus wasn’t called up.
On Saturday, October 12th, David Raya and Mikel Merino will be part of the Spanish squad hosting Denmark in Murcia. I must say that I am surprised to see Merino getting a call up for Spain especially with the fact that he has been on the sidelines for a while with a shoulder injury and just returned to fitness. Jakub Kiwior will be part of the Polish defense hosting Portugal.
On Sunday, October 13th, Saka and Rice travel to Helsinki to take on Finland, and one can only hope they’d get reduced minutes in that encounter, but knowing Lee Carsley, that’s me asking for too much.
On Monday, October 14th, two Gunners clash again when Belgium takes on France. This will be a repeat of their Euro 2024 knockout clash and the Red Devils will be looking to get their pound of flesh. Calafiori will close out the Arsenal action for the day as Italy hosts Israel in Udine. Tuesday would see Raya and Merino potentially feature in Spain’s contest against Serbia in Cordoba, while Kiwior will be part of the Poland squad hosting Croatia in Warsaw.
The final act of Arsenal presence on international duty would see Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Magalhaes lock horns with Peru at Brasilia on Wednesday, October 16th. With Arsenal set to travel to the South coast to take on Bournemouth on Saturday, the squad is expected to leave London on Friday and based on the flight scheduling, both Gabis might arrive sometime on Thursday, which is far from ideal.
So far, only Kai Havertz and Thomas Partey are the Arsenal players staying back at London Colney and will not feature in any capacity for their respective nations. Havertz is reported to have suffered a knee injury, while Partey’s absence is quite vague, with the Ghana FA citing ‘medical reasons’ as the cause of their captain’s unavailability.
These injuries might be legitimate, or pure dark arts from Arsenal.
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