Not every Arsenal fan likes internationals

Not every Arsenal fan likes internationals

Or put another way, the vast majority of Arsenal fans hate internationals.

The dislike of international breaks by fans of top clubs is of course something you don’t normally hear about in the press – for whom discussing the latest calamity to beset the teams of England, Scotland, Wales and N Ireland, is part of what keeps them going.


But they do it always with a view that somehow we are all interested in the result – whereas in fact many of us are only interested in one thing: who is going to come back alive.

It has happened to us too often – players come back late, tired or injured – often played when they should never have been played by international managers who have no responsibility for the players’ long term welfare.

They are, as Mr Wenger once memorably said, akin to car thieves who take your vehicle, drive it into the ground, return it to you wrecked and order you to have it ready again in two months time.

This current international break is fairly awful from an Arsenal perspective with 13 front line players involves. Here’s a quick guide to the dangers ahead.

1: Wojciech Szczesny
Republic of Ireland v Poland, March 29 (Euro championship qualifier)

2, 3, 4: Kieran Gibbs, Theo Walcott, Danny Welbeck
England v Lithuania, March 27 (Euro championship qualifier)
Italy v England, March 30 (friendly)

5: Gabriel
France v Brazil, March 26 (friendly)
Brazil v Chile, March 29 (friendly) played at the Emirates

6: Laurent Koscielny, Olivier Giroud
France v Brazil, March 26 (friendly)
France v Denmark, March 29 (friendly)

7: Tomas Rosicky
Czech Republic v Latvia, March 26 (Euro championship qualifier)
Slovakia v Czech Republic, March 30 (friendly)

8, 9: Mesut Ozil, Lukas Podolski
Germany v Australia, March 25 (friendly)
Georgia v Germany, March 29 (Euro championship qualifier)

10: David Ospina
Bahrain v Colombia, March 26 (friendly)
Colombia v Kuwait, March 29 (friendly), played in Dubai

11: Aaron Ramsey
Israel v Wales, March 28 (Euro championship qualifier)

12: Alexis Sanchez
Austria v Chile, March 26 (friendly)
Brazil v Chile, March 29 (friendly) to be played at the Emirates

13: Santi Cazorla
Spain v Ukraine, March 27 (Euro championship qualifier)
Netherlands v Spain, March 31 (friendly)

The first thing to notice in our favour is that most players don’t have far to travel. Just about the longest journey looks to be Ospina going to Dubai, which is a seven hour flight. The flight for Ozil is just under five hours, which is about the same for Ramsey.

So not as bad as it might be,

And given that there are no under 21 games lurking around we have quite a few players who are going to be wrapped up safe and warm at home.

Here’s the list of the men who are safe from injury and assault by half crazed international managers:

1. Per Mertersacker
2. Mathieu Debuchy
3. Francis Coquelin
4. Gedion Zelalem
5. Krystian Bielik
6. Isaac Hayden
7. Hector Bellerin
8. Calum Chambers
9. Nacho Monreal
10. Mikel Arteta
11. Jack Wilshere
12. Mathieu Famini
13. Alex Oxlade Chamberlain
14. Chuba Akpom
15. Serge Gnabry

Chuba Akpom however is rumoured to be about to go away on loan, so probably won’t be available to us anyway. Debuchy is injured of course, and won’t be ready for the game after the break – the home match against Liverpool.

On the brighter side Jack Wilshere should be fit, and indeed so might be Mikel Arteta. It is even possible that we might see the Ox back.

So we’ve got a few players who could step in, if things go terribly wrong during the internationals.

And of course just as our players are liable to be injured, or delayed, or simply eat the wrong food, so might the same happen to Liverpool. They have 14 players out and about with the mad managers including Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson, Jordan Henderson, Raheem Sterling, Daniel Sturridge. Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel, Joe Allen, Luis Suarez, Simon Mignolet, Kolo Toure, Brad Jones, Mamadou Sakho and Victor Moses