The second international break of the Premier League campaign is well and truly over, and all focus will return to club football, as Arsenal visit Stamford Bridge to take on a resurgent Chelsea that has managed to pick up some form after their rotten start to the season.

Mikel Arteta saw 14 players leave the Arsenal camp to travel to their respective nations to play in several international fixtures – some featuring in friendly matches while some focused on the qualifiers for continental competitions.

With Egypt already confirmed for the forthcoming African Cup of Nations, Mohamed Elneny got 180 minutes under his belt with friendlies against Zambia and Algeria. Elneny isn’t one to feature much in the forthcoming campaign but will likely get minutes as a substitute when we need to see out games. He’s probably going to leave the club this summer on a free transfer, and there will be no ill-will in that regard, as he has been one of the standout professionals in the club from Day 1. He even stated recently that he almost cried when the club offered him a contract extension following his long term injury.

Speaking of injuries, Thomas Partey is another player that has been working his way to full fitness, but unlike Elneny, he’s someone that will be itching to return to first team action to play alongside Declan Rice in the hub of Arsenal’s midfield. Partey made his comeback as a substitute in the narrow win over Manchester City, and I’m quite elated that his national team gaffer, Chris Hughton, managed his minutes in the friendlies. Partey played 45 minutes in the 2-2 draw with Mexico and 64 minutes in the 4-0 thrashing Ghana received from the United States. 

Partey and Elneny will be huge misses in January when they depart for the African Cup of Nations, and Arteta will be hoping that Declan Rice and Jorginho, will stay fit for that period to cushion the absence of the African stars. 

Arsenal’s European contingent had mixed campaigns, with Declan Rice, Aaron Ramsdale and Eddie Nketiah certain of their Euro 2024 qualification status, while Jakub Kiwior, Martin Odegaard and Oleksandr Zinchenko still hopeful of featuring in the mundial. David Raya has all but qualified but it’s clearly going to be a sight-seeing mission for the Arsenal goalie as Unai Simon is clearly the favored one in goal for La Furia Roja. As for Kai Havertz, he amassed just 28 minutes from a possible 180 under the new manager, Julian Nagelsmann, and he will be hoping to be in contention to start in the tournament hosted by his country.

The South American Gabi boys didn’t have a good international window, commencing the round with a draw against Venezuela before suffering a Darwin Nunez inspired defeat to Uruguay. Brazil losing in the CONMEBOL qualifiers is such a rare occurrence, as you’d have to go all the way to October 2015 for their last loss in the qualifiers. The only Asian representative was Takehiro Tomiyasu, playing 45 minutes in the victory over Canada and 90 in the win over Tunisia.

Most importantly, there were no major injury concerns and all hands are on deck for the Battle of Stamford Bridge.

Hopefully, we will get some Bukayo Saka good news from the gaffer.

Sayonara.

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