It’s another home match day today and it’s the visit of the Saints and Aaron Ramsdale to The Emirates at three o’clock this afternoon, as we aim to continue our form going in to the international break.

Yesterday I took a look at our opponents and the type of game we’re likely to face, their playing style and their form, so today I’m looking at what we might do in light of Mikel Arteta’s words and comments in his press conference yesterday. As you’d expect, he hasn’t really given anything away, but for me a big question that is unanswered is on Jurrien Timber. He came off at half time and Arteta said straight after the game that he felt something muscular. I had a chat with somebody on Threads yesterday and then this morning about his availability and they seemed to think that he was out today, which might pose a challenge in the full back spot, but Mikel didn’t really provide any clarity (as usual) and simply said on him, White and Timber:

We had to modify training for a lot of players. We’ve done the same today because of the load that they had, so it’s a decision to make this afternoon, whether to involve them, yes or no. They are close, and Tomiyasu as well is quite close to being involved, so good news.

Clear as mud then. My original thought was that he’s probably ok, but then I remembered that Arteta wouldn’t even admit that Odegaard was out for the North London Derby, which he was clearly never going to play in. I wonder if this international break might have a bearing on whether he decides to delve even deeper in to our squad this afternoon, choosing to rest Timber, White and Tomiyasu, which would also have the benefits of their international teams maybe not risking them either – ensuring they stay home and have a couple of weeks off.

That may be a cynical view, but having Tomiyasu not going to Saudi Arabia and then back to Japan the next week would certainly be better for us and if he’s in the squad today then it will give Japan the excuse to make him travel and play. The same with Timber. I know these players want to play for their international teams, but sometimes you need to think longer term. Tomiyasu can’t surely be called up having not played any football at all this season, right? And I mean no disrespect to Southampton, but if we keep Timber wrapped up, we still should have enough to beat them. The question is, if there is no White, Timber or Tomiyasu, no Zinchenko or Tierney either, who is playing at full back? And isn’t it just the most Arsenal thing ever that the positions we have the most versatility and numbers in, that we’re struggling to find players!

I suspect that if all of the above players are out, he’ll move Calafiori to right back and Kiwior to left back, which really does show the depth we have in defence that we’re talking about Kiwior as a fifth choice player who might get the nod today. We all thought Mikel was mad to have so many defenders in the summer – well we were wrong about that, eh!?

Further up the pitch it stats to get a little easier and we start to look a lot strong, you have to say, because Merino came back in midweek and he’ll be in the squad, plus we have Partey now on a run of games and looking decent again, as well as Rice, Havertz, Trossard, Saka, Martinelli, Jesus, Sterling and Nwaneri all options that Mikel can select from. That’s a pretty decent group of players – ten in total to select from the midfield and attacking six; and I haven’t even mentioned Jorginho to make it 11 players to fill six positions. As he said in his press conference yesterday, of course we still miss Odegaard and hopefully after the international break he comes back in to action (although Mikel would not confirm that either), but when you look at those options right now it looks quite strong. And Mikel reflected on that yesterday too, talking about how the team has adapted our playing style to mitigate the absence of our captain. We’ve seen how Trossard and Havertz are rotating between playing further up the field or dropping deeper, or drifting wide right or left, with the result being that teams aren’t quite sure who is playing where and it left the kind of space on Tuesday for Havertz to make a good run and nod the ball home for our first goal.

People make a lot about our off the ball movement when out of possession, but the fluidity in movement of our players across different parts of the pitch is what I love; it’s so hard in football to pick up a player if they are consistently changing their position – you can hardly man mark Havertz if you’re a centre half, because you’ll be all over the place!

Hopefully that continues today and whilst Southampton are the kind of opponents that all the pundits in the media are saying will be a stroll in the park for The Arsenal, last weekend proved that anything can happen. We battered Leicester, we deserved to be two up, but they scored with their only two chances. The same could happen today. I’m pretty confident that we’ll create more chances than them, I’m pretty confident we’ll put stress on their back line, but I can’t for certain say we’ll bag a ton of goals and keep a clean sheet – last weekend was a timely reminder of the quality in this league. Plus, the returning Ramsdale will want to show his old colleagues just what he’s about, so I’m expecting him to have the game of his life today, for sure. Mads Hermansen 2.0, mark my words.

So for us it will be about being professional, keeping the game face on, taking chances and creating a lot of them too.

I’ll be there in Block Five making my voice hoarse, so let’s hope that is rewarded with that most precious of things: Three glorious points.

Catch you tomorrow morning on here, as well as on the Same Old Arsenal blog, with the gang.