So…I think that we’re done now on these insufferable international breaks. And we have certainly suffered. First Calafiori, then Odegaard, but I think and hope that every other Arsenal player came through them and now we have the daunting task of picking up the pieces and assessing how we are going to go about preparing for the North London Derby.

Zinchenko played 85 minutes for Ukraine in central midfield (more on that discussion during the week, I suspect, might even do a bit today actually) and so I think he’s ok.

Bukayo Saka came off unscathed having played 65 minutes for England, so he should be fine (another I have seen debated as a possible Odegaard replacement).

Havertz played the full 90 for Germany in a 2-2 draw against the Netherlands (another guy who can play in midfield, let’s not forget, even if he isn’t a right eight per say), whilst Jurrien Timber was on the other side and got 45 minutes for the Dutch. On that particular substitution, let’s put partisan domestic rivalries aside here, because the reason Timber was on so early was because Nathan Ake was stretchered off with what looked like a problematic muscular injury. I’m sure there are plenty of ‘banter’ City, United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Scum accounts that took the opportunity to laugh at it, probably a few Arsenal ones too, but I’m not having any of it. It’s just another needless injury at a time in which there are needless internationals that are costing players game time because of an already ridiculous schedule. Get all of these glorified European friendlies in the bin please.

On Monday Saliba got the full 90 and so one would assume he is ok and big Gabi played the full 90 for Brazil against Paraguay, so he should be fine (we hope), whilst Partey also played the full 90 against Niger on Monday.

So from a player availability perspective we have guys who should be ok and thankfully there are no more injuries. Arsenal were at pains to chill some of the initial Arsenal fanbase rage at this break by posting a video yesterday of players banging the ball in the back of the net and you suspect it was timed to be a visual message to people like me that is “calm down, we have this. We have plenty of very talented players and we will go to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium full of confidence and belief”. You’d expect that public message, but within the walls of London Colney, Arteta and his coaching staff will be re-writing game plans as we speak I suspect. Now that he will have an idea on who is available (barring any more training ground injuries which, let’s face it, it feels like we can’t rule out given our luck so far this season), the plan will commence on how to patch up the midfield. And herein lies a real conundrum, because it isn’t an easy fix. To be fair, any team losing a player for any length of time is probably not going to be able to replace them easily; for Man City De Bruyne out isn’t going to be replaced because as we know he’s just a quality player, for Liverpool you just can’t slot in a Salah 2.0 and for Villa Watkins was their ‘go to’ guy last season. Even The Scum will highlight Maddison or Son, although the former is injured for periods of a season every season, so you have to kind of acknowledge that when you buy him in the first place.

So we won’t be able to replace Martin Odegaard, but we have options on who can play there. The problem we have is that nearly all of them are untested, because Odegaard is just usually fit for us and basically plays all the time.

The first I mentioned above is Zinchenko. I’ve seen people say that he has never played for us in that position before, which of course is true, but it’s not as if he is untried there. Indeed, he plays in central midfield (and it is his favoured position, I think) for Ukraine and even played there last night in their 3-2 loss, albeit he played on the left hand side of the midfield. But I think we might be in a ‘break glass in case of emergency’ position right now and I think I’m leaning towards him as a starting midfielder for Sunday. Let me show you some initial workings on this, by considering the other options here:

  1. Bukayo Saka – intelligent, versatile, has played at right back, left back, could probably do a good job in goal if we needed him. He’s a player who has a good passing range, will cover the ground both running back towards his goal and getting forward. The only question mark I would have with him there is leading the press. Saka is a man who is very clever in picking when he is sprinting and when he isn’t. He times it always so perfectly. I’m not sure whether he would lead our press with as much ferocity as much as Odegaard would. I also don’t think Arteta wants to move too many pieces out of position when he has to juggle his squad. We saw that in 2022/23 when we had the injury to Saliba in the Sporting game. Arteta’s first reaction was to not move White in to central defence but to play Holding instead. It was a failed experiment and eventually he brought Kiwior in to play in an unfavoured right centre-back role, rather than have White play there (although I acknowledge that White was carrying an injury too so that may have played some part in the end). So I think Arteta will have the same feelings about Saka i.e. he wants him in that right wing position and he wants him to see if he can do damage for us in the attacking third from a more familiar position. I will also admit that having him in there would also free up an opportunity for Sterling to play wide right and that enables us to keep a lot of the team the same, but I also don’t think he’s throwing Sterling in for his first game in an Arsenal shirt straight away. For starters he might not be fully match sharp having played no part in the first three games of the season for Chelsea.
  2. Ethan Nwaneri – those of you who are on this kids hype train, I get it and I want to be there with you, but this isn’t a mid-to-lower league Premier League team, or a cup game. This is the intensity of a North London Derby and putting that much pressure on a kid like him to step up and fill the boots, feels harsh to me, so I wouldn’t do it. I also think Arteta won’t do it because as much as he has shown he will roll the dice on young players like he did with Smith Rowe in 2020 against Chelsea, he tends to be a little more cautious than chucking young players in to one of the biggest games of the season. That doesn’t mean I don’t think he won’t be involved at all and perhaps, depending on game state, he might be given a go. But it just ‘feels’ to me like a ‘last 15’ type move, rather than a starter.
  3. Kai Havertz – I do get this one, because we bought him as a midfielder and Arteta has used him there, so unlike Zinchenko he has priors on this one, but again I’m just not sure that he’ll want to tinker with the positions of his key men just yet. Kai was also excellent in last season’s win and so I think Arteta keeps him there. Let’s also not forget that Havertz has tended to play as a left eight rather than a right eight. A subtle change and I’m sure he’d be fine adapting, but there are just slight differences in how the pitch is viewed based on the fact he is left-footed, that makes me wonder whether this is something that Arteta will take in to account and decide that maybe he isn’t the choice. There’s also another big factor in the fact that I don’t think he’ll play there – I think Havertz is going to play left eight given our lack of options in our whole midfield right now.
  4. Partey – This one comes as a double pairing, because if you’re going to move Partey forward, then you are almost certainly playing Jorginho in as the deeper lying number six. I can’t see us doing that with the lack of mobility between them. At this point in time it very much feels like one or the other to me.

I’ve seen a few other suggestions for Timber or Calafiori, but if Arteta is risk averse when it comes to moving players around from other positions or not wanting to try to move players like Zinchenko (who has played in midfield) in there, he isn’t going to do that. So I really think it is one of the above options. And for me it feels like a midfield of Zinchenko and possibly Havertz (does anybody know anything about Jesus’ availability?) alongside him.

Whatever he decides, it is sub-optimal, but I guess we’ll need to find out what the status of the squad is from him on Friday. Two days of waiting it is then.

Catch you all tomorrow.