Ahh man it’s a barren football wasteland out there right now. There is absolutely nothing anybody can say that would convince me that tonight’s match between the Republic of Ireland and England is one worth getting invested in. I’m up in Northumberland and the Management’s uncle is a Newcastle and England fan, so he’ll probably have it on and by default my eyes will follow it, but my heart won’t be all a-flutter, that’s for sure. There is no way in hell this should be an international break this early in the season, but there you go.

And as if to rub salt in to our collective wounds, new signing Calafiori was taken off after a sort of freak accident after Dembele from France tumbled in to him last night. I’ve watched a clip of it and the most worrying thing is the way his teammates were furiously gesturing over to the bench to get somebody on. When that happens you immediately fear the worst, but with Spaletti saying that it’s not so bad and he might be fit for Monday, that’s at least some crumb of comfort. Riccardo should really be on the first flight home though. It’s ridiculous that he is even remotely in contention for playing another game after coming off injured but therein lies my biggest issue with international football during the season: The international managers just don’t care. Got a friendly against a big nation? An international manager will play your player for the full 90. Borderline whether they are fit? International manager will play your player for the full 90. We’ve already seen that Declan Rice isn’t 100% right now, but instead of resting him, you can bet that Carsley will play him this evening. I guess Rice is suspended so he’s getting a rest next weekend when we play the Scum, but that’s besides the point. The point is that these international managers chew our players up, run them ragged and spit them out/chuck them back to us in pieces.

Even Kevin De Bruyne has spoken about the number of games they play and how FIFA and UEFA are just chucking in more games, so it’s not just us fans that think this is pointless, but the players too. But as he says, money talks.

I know I am a broken record on this and I’ve been peddling this line for years, but that’s because it’s been frustrating for years. Arsenal pay these players’ wages. Arsenal have all the risk. But it’s the international teams who get to do what they want. It’s maddening.

And so now we sweat on the fitness of the rest of the players on duty. Rice and Saka are with England tonight, as is Timber with the Netherlands, Havertz with Germany, Zinchenko with Ukraine. Odegaard played the full 90 against Kazakhstan this week and Partey seems to have done a full 90 for Ghana against Angola. That tells me he’s at least ok. So that’s a relief. What is weird is that I can’t see Trossard in the Belgium team line up from their game against Israel. I don’t know whether that’s because he’s picked up a knock or not, but there’s nothing I can find online, so hopefully he’s just fallen out with his national team manager and is going to Ben White his international career. That would be nice. Focus on being in the Arsenal team Leo, we’ll appreciate you much more than any of those Belgians would.

I’ve seen some links suggesting that after the Saudi bid, Arsenal want to open talks with Trossard over a new deal. That makes sense to me. He doesn’t usually get too injured, he’s not the kind of wide forward where his pace is his biggest asset and that will start to dwindle as he reaches his 30s, plus he’s already shown this season how valuable an asset he is. He’s the best finisher at the club by a mile. His current contract runs until 2026 so in January he’ll have 18 months left on his deal. By the time we hit June 2026 he’ll be 31 by the time his contract is due to expire and is reportedly on £90k-per-week, so it’s not as if he’s on a massive wage in comparison to others; if the rumours are true even Reiss Nelson was on more than him!

But it’s a bit of a weird age. He’ll want more security in his contract length, but Arsenal won’t want to bump him up and slap another three years on his deal. So perhaps it will suit all parties to give him a pay rise, maybe bolt on an extra year with a ‘plus one’ on the end, then perhaps drop an extra £20k-£30k which he gets now to reflect his improved status in the team, as well as give him a little more security. All parties win and it nips the Saudi interest in the bud, so that’s good.

Right, I think I’ll leave it there for the day. Time to go for a walk in the Northumbrian air.

Have yourselves a splendid one and I’ll catch you all tomorrow.

Laters.