I bet Big Vik Gyokeres is enjoying himself tonight, eh?

Because Last night he helped to get his Swedish team into the final of the World Cup playoffs with a hat-trick, all of which felt very much part of his MO. First one, a tap-in after a good move on the left, with the striker basically touching in to an empty net. Think Everton at home a couple of weeks back. The second one was a transitional moment in which defenders were backtracking, and he shifted the ball inside the box, to then slot into the corner. Think a little like the Leeds goal at home he scored at the start of the season. Then the third was a penalty he roofed into the net.

It’s good for us because it means he’ll be feeling uber happy and confident after the disappointment of the League Cup. We all said that we needed this break, but if it gives a double boost of positivity for players like Gyokeres to come back even more fired up, then I don’t think there’ll be a Gooner around who won’t be satisfied with that. He now plays for Poland, and apart from Kiwior – who is basically an Arsenal player in name only at this point – we have no Polish players that we really need to see boosted, so my hopes are now for Sweden to go through next week and Big Vik to come back feeling 10 feet tall.

Riccardo Calafiori will also be feeling pretty good, as he saw his Italian team go through at the expense of Northern Ireland and, more importantly, he managed the full 90 minutes. Given how he hasn’t played too much of late, that’s not too bad, but I hope the staff are mindful of his injury record this season, and of all the players on injury duty, he’s the one that I have my fingers crossed for the most. I’ve already shown my hand earlier in the week by talking about an early possible team for Southampton away next Saturday, but when I look at the fact that Calafiori may well play another full 90 for Italy, possibly even more if Bosnia send them to extra time, you do wonder whether he’ll be asked to sit that one out if he plays too many minutes whilst on international duty.

I think some of the games coming up mean I’d like to see Calafiori in there from the start if he can stay fit. The City game away, for one, is one I’d have him earmarked for. He played well there last season. He looked good and gave us more dynamism when he came on in the League Cup last weekend, so if I’m Arteta, that’s definitely one I want him fit for.

Christian Norgaard was on the scoresheet for Denmark, who now have to go to the Czech Republic to get themselves to the World Cup in the summer. Again, another player who hasn’t played as much and whilst I absolutely detest international football during the domestic season, getting minutes into his legs is probably a good thing for the context of the remainder of our season. Hopefully, he gets the good vibes and progresses as well, because like Poland, we have no skin in the game when it comes to the Czech’s.

Martinelli got 63 minutes for Brazil in France, who lost 2-1 to Les Bleus, but it seems he was fine when coming off, so that’s another one thankfully ticked off the list.

And so to the remaining players on international duty, and let’s start with Benjamin White, who Tommy Tuchel admitted the player will have to speak to his teammates about his absence. For his part, I think Tuchel has played it well, because he’s said he doesn’t care about what happened before, he has seen White do well in training, and that he’s a good lad. I suspect if Ben plays tonight at 7.45 against Uruguay, he’s going to be roundly booed by the England fans. That’s to be expected from some of the twats that will be in the crowd. Instead of asking the question: “Why did he leave the camp under Southgate and Holland and not return until he was asked by the new manager? I wonder if it was the old administration that had anything to do with it?”, they will bleat and whinge and sing ridiculous things like “you let your country down” and nonsense. But to anybody going tonight that boo’s, if I were able to speak to them as an individual and say, “Have you ever had a line manager who treated you poorly, didn’t look after your interests and made life horrible for you at work?” If the answer is “yes”, then perhaps those idiots who boo would take a second to have a think about what more than likely happened under the last manager. Because if Ben White hates playing for England, he ain’t picking up the phone and returning the first time he’s asked to under the next manager.

As for the others on duty, we have to hope that Madueke sees some minutes and is fine, whilst Saka and Rice are, I believe, not going to be selected for this game. Raya, Zubimendi and Mosquera will most likely be in the squad tonight, but given it is a friendly, I hope the Spanish manager is sensible about his minutes. I hope that Rodri gets a ton of minutes and Zubi is on the bench for both, but I suspect he might alternate. He’s another one that, if we’re all honest, probably needs a week off when he returns from international duty, so I wouldn’t even pick him in the squad for the FA Cup.

HIncapie plays in Morocco tonight, then Eindhoven on Tuesday, which hopefully can be a good thing, because it’s a very short flight back from the Netherlands, and so the long trip back to the UK from Ecuador isn’t on the cards. Martinelli is the one who will face the longest trip, because he’s in Orlando in the early hours of Wednesday morning, so I wonder if that puts pay to any possible start he might have next weekend?

There’s not a lot else worth talking about at this stage, though; we just have to cross our fingers and hope that no player picks up a knock. We haven’t been very lucky with that so far in these international breaks this season, so I’d like the football gods to at least cut us a break this time around.

Famous last words, eh?