Morning Gooners, how we all doing on this Tuesday morn?

Are you glass half empty or glass half full kind of feeling?

The reason I ask is after the new yesterday that Gabriel has withdrawn from the upcoming Brazilian national team friendlies that they have coming up over the next week. On the one hand the first thought is ‘Oh no, what’s happened here?’, but on the other hand, you think back to bygone eras of the past where Fergie’s United players would come down with mystery illnesses or injuries ahead of these types of windows, then suddenly reappear for the first game after the international break.

So part of me sits in both camps, but if I was to pick a side, I have a feeling that this might be the more positive one for us, with hopefully big Gabi getting himself a solid two week’s rest before we play City. There were some noises about a knock a couple of week’s back I think, but that the Brazilian was kind of nursing his way through it, but it seems that both club and country have come together and realised that for his long-term health, a couple of week’s resting that foot could be a good thing.

That’s what I’m choosing to hope for, because what has become clear last season and this is just how important our central defensive partnership is. Don’t get me wrong, we’re in a much better place than last season where we had to lean on Rob Holding when Saliba went down, but Gabriel and Saliba are a massive part of why we are so miserly in defence and so having them both fit for this run in is going to be crucial.

It would also really suck if once again we played Man City with a key player/players missing. Earlier in the season it was Saka who was out when we played City. Last season it was Saliba in the away game, then for the home game that was where Partey was ruled out in a days leading up to it, I believe. It just feels like we are permanently having to try to find solutions for players missing against City and with that match looming on the horizon as one of the biggest games of the season for us, all we Arsenal fans want is to be the best version of ourselves with no last minute injuries.

The good news is that it sounds, by all accounts, as if Gabriel’s withdrawal from the Brazilian team is ‘precautionary’. I guess given these are meaningless friendlies, it doesn’t hurt for the Brazilian national team to try one or two other players over the next couple of matches they play, so whilst we all know that for Brazilians playing for the Selecao is everything and they would be desperate to play no matter what the game, if sense has overruled player desire in this instance and he’s back for City away, then that would be fine and dandy for us.

There’s also going to be Gabriel Martinelli missing, as well as Gabriel Jesus too, so ewe have ample opportunity to get all of those players back and playing more fitness minutes on the training ground. I suspect Arsenal will probably also do a ‘behind closed doors’ gig as well to keep some of those players remaining at London Colney back, which will help them to keep ticking over, so all-in-all it feels as though as it stands we are in good shape. Thomas Partey isn’t going off to Ghana, Ben White doesn’t want to play for England under Southgate, the three Gabi’s are rested, plus the likes of Saliba, Raya, Ramsdale will probably not get much time out on the pitch, which is fine by me. The more players that play the least amount of minutes, the better our chances are of avoiding a knock. We just need Kiwior, Rice, Odegaard, Saka , Havertz and Trossard to all play within themselves and not have to play the full 180+ of minutes that their respective national teams will be playing over the next week.

Gareth Southgate will probably play Saka for that whole time, knowing him…

There’s not really a lot else going on from an Arsenal perspective though, as the players disappear off to their national teams for these pointless round of games. I saw the Forest stuff about the points deduction but I can’t really be bothered to go in to the detail of that; it doesn’t really impact us and besides which, until they sort the City situation out, it all feels like a bit of a joke really, so I’m staying clear of commenting until the season comes to an end and we see what the final table actually looks like.

And on that note I’ll take my leave for today. Enjoy your Tuesday and I’ll catch you all tomorrow for some more Arsenal musings. I’m thinking about doing a ’12 games to go – what might happen?’ piece that I might do tomorrow. Let me know if that’s of any interest.

Laters people.