Morning all.

The second Monday of an international break is always better than the first. William Saliba’s duty is done after helping France defeat Italy 3-1 last night. I’d normally be writing about Riccardo Calafiori and Jorginho too but neither have been away during this break. Belgium played last night and lost 1-0 to Israel with Leandro Trossard needing to be replaced 37 minutes into the game after picking up an injury.

Poland and Spain play their respective final fixtures of 2024 tonight before Ukraine, Netherlands and Germany play theirs tomorrow. Brazil play in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

So let’s have a look at the remaining Arsenal fixtures of this year.

November:

Saturday 23rd – Home v Nottingham Forest 3pm
Tuesday 26th – Away v Sporting Lisbon 8pm (CL)
Saturday 30th – Away v West Ham United 5.30pm

December:

Wednesday 4th – Home v Manchester United 8.15pm
Sunday 8th – Away v Fulham 2pm
Wednesday 11th – Home v Monaco 8pm (CL)
Saturday 14th – Home v Everton 3pm
Wednesday 18th – Home v Crystal Palace 7.30pm (LC)
Saturday 21st – Away v Crystal Palace 5.30pm
Friday 27th – Home v Ipswich 8.15pm

New Years Day – Away v Brentford at 5.30pm

Amazingly, only once between now and the end of the year do Mikel Arteta and his players travel outside of London and that’s for a Champions League fixture. Even so, we have a vast amount of fixtures to fit in between Saturday and the end of the year. 10 in 34 days if my maths is right which is roughly a game every 3 days. So yes, not having to travel outside of London is a good thing. Not that the fixtures will be any easier of course.

The period between the last international break and this current one was awful as far as results go. Some of the performances have been well under par too but at least now, our squad depth is looking better. Riccardo Calafiori and Takehiro Tomiyasu are expected to make an imminent return to the squad which is much needed with Ben White expected to be out for a few weeks, Oleksandr Zinchenko is back fully fit as is Martin Odegaard and hopefully, this two weeks of rest will have greatly helped both Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice to recover/repair. Whatever injury Leandro Trossard has picked up, hopefully it’s nothing serious.

Right now, Arsenal sit 9 points off of Liverpool who top the league table. It’s a big gap I know but, it’s catchable, overtakeable even. (Yes, I’ve made that word up) Liverpool have had the new manager boost and they’ve had to fight hard to win games by a fine margin whereas we’ve not been able to. Playing with ten men and having had many players in and out of the side through injury hasn’t helped, nor has the inconsistency from the officials but now is the time to get going before it really is too late for a league title challenge.

Having captain Martin Odegaard back will hopefully make this Arsenal team again. I’m not suggesting he’s superior to any other player in the squad but even at Sunday morning level of the game, if a player as crucial to team as Martin Odegaard is for Arsenal, is out injured, it makes a difference. Mentally as well as the way a team plays. It’s all very well him being involved with the players before a game kicks off which I read he always has been, but it’s on the pitch where he’s been missed. Look at Man City’s struggles without Rodri. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

I think we’ll miss Ben White too, especially the partnership he has with Bukayo Saka but as said earlier, at least Takehiro Tomiyasu and Riccardo Calafiori are soon returning because they will help soften the blow of losing one of the best right-backs in England. Hopefully one or both will be fit enough to play a part in Saturday’s game against Nottingham Forest.

We’ll find out later in the week when Mikel Arteta holds his pre match press conference. Until then, keep your fingers and toes crossed that the Arsenal players playing between now and Wednesday, come through unscathed…

Catch up in the comments.