Waving farewell to half of his squad for 10 days at the business end of the season must have been difficult for Mikel Arteta so it’s little wonder he’s told his internationals to “look after themselves” when they join up with their respective countries.
It looks as though 14 Arsenal players will be involved in matches between now and the next Premier League game against Leeds United on the 1st of April with those staying behind either injured (Nketiah, Elneny, Saliba, Tomiyasu), overlooked (Gabriels x 3) or English (White, Holding, Nelson).
Facing the media after Sunday’s 4-1 win over Crystal Palace, Arteta was asked what his message is to those heading off.
“That they really look after themselves in this period,” he said.
“I will try to look after the players that have to remain with us here and that they come back with the same mindset that they have before so that we can go into Leeds which is the only important game we have right now and try to win that one.
“I want to think positively,” he added when asked about the possibility of players picking up injuries.
“They’re going to play games and they have to do it in the way that they do it here or better, especially when they’re representing their country.
“We are in contact with all of them, they know how to look after them and we hope that everything is going to work out.”
Those remaining in London will be afforded a couple of days off before regrouping at London Colney later in the week for training sessions that will involve youngsters from the Academy.
While a break at this point isn’t ideal, it will at least give Gabriel Jesus a chance to build his fitness after a lengthy absence. Eddie Nketiah and William Saliba will also look to step up their rehabilitation having picked up ankle and back injuries in recent weeks.
Arsenal’s Interlullers, March 2023
| Name | Country | Opponent 1 | Opponent 2 |
| Aaron Ramsdale | England | Italy (A) | Ukraine (H) |
| Matt Turner | USA | Grenada (A) | El Salvador |
| Karl Hein | Estonia | Hungary (A) | Austria (H) |
| Kieran Tierney | Scotland | Cyprus (H) | Spain (A) |
| Oleksandr Zinchenko | Ukraine | England (A) | North Macedonia (A) |
| Jakub Kiwior | Poland | Czech Republic (A) | Albania (H) |
| Thomas Partey | Ghana | Angola (H) | Angola (A) |
| Jorginho | Italy | England (H) | Malta (A) |
| Granit Xhaka | Switzerland | Belarus (A) | Israel (H) |
| Bukayo Saka | England | Italy (A) | Ukraine (H) |
| Martin Odegaard | Norway | Spain (A) | Georgia (A) |
| Leandro Trossard | Belgium | Sweden (A) | Germany (H) |
| Emile Smith Rowe | England under-21s | France (H) | Croatia (H) |
| Fabio Vieira | Portugal under-21s | Romania (A) | Norway (H) |
Lots of matches and travelling. Let’s hope for no injuries so we can get going in a good position for our 10 Cup finals. Fingers crossed!
Most nervy interlull ever?
Glad the Brazilians are not travelling; the thousands of miles round trip is a problem all on its own.
I pray the rest all return unscathed.
Nice to see Blogs was able to go to the Palace game. As a Red member getting a ticket has proved impossible.
But he didn’t put the teams up here before the match! Disaster…
But actually, glad he was there and enjoyed it.
Red members are sadly only for cash in
Signed up for Red membership last year and thought I’d come to London for a game this season. But I didn’t realize I was competing against 300k other Red members for around a thousand tickets each home game. Feels like trying the lottery jackpot.
I thought I had overpaid for a touted ticket to the Bournemouth game but changed my mind in the 96th minute! Bargain price at 140 pounds!
Always scary with international duty but hopefully this works in our favour this time, giving Saliba time to rest up as well as providing valuable experience to the rest (with no injuries). Let’s hope Kiwior plays and that he looks really good, might need him for the run in..
Correction. Smith-Rowe was called up for England U21 wasn’t he? Alongside Balogun.
Hopefully some much needed game time for ESR could help him kick on
Would like to see Zinchenko up against Saka. And they just spend the game chatting on the sidelines and making a half arsed attempt to look busy
Southgate’s defensive organisation already took care of that!
If he plays for Ukraine like he does for us he’ll be spending more time near future Gunner Declan Rice 😉
Before we got Zinchenko, I had thought he was pretty good for City–but the few times I had seen him for Ukraine, he was fantastic. I think he actually lined up as an 8 or 10, ran the game, controlled everything, just brilliant.
Let’s hope everyone avoids one of those RVP moments
The most Arsenal of old thing must be Jorginho would have been Jorginho injures Saka and takes him out for the rest of the season.
Of course, it won’t happen. We are reborn 😑
Why don’t you try looking on the bright side?
Jorginho injures Harry Kane and takes him out for the season..
Why concern yourself with nobodies on nuffy teams?
Interlull. Nothing better to do.
I hate interlulls.
I see Rashford has pulled out of the England squad with a knock. Seen that coming a mile off. Klopp was always the master of the so called injuries just before an interlull. Are we the only top side that don’t use these sneaky tactics? Surely saka could have picked up a “knock” against Palace just this once!
Weakness begets weakness