William Saliba, Eberechi Eze and Jurrien Timber have been withdrawn from international duty after picking up injuries.
While Saliba completed the full 90 minutes of Sunday’s Carabao Cup defeat to Manchester City, an ankle issue means he won’t join up with France for their brace of friendlies in the USA.
Timber and Eze both missed yesterday’s game, and there are concerns that the latter could be facing a prolonged spell on the sidelines with a calf issue. Manager Mikel Arteta reported yesterday that the England international will require another scan in a week. His compatriots Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice and Noni Madueke will be given a couple of days off and are set to sit out England’s first game on Friday.
In total, 18 members of Mikel Arteta’s first-team squad (19 if you include on loan Ethan Nwaneri) are still set to join up with their countries for fixtures of varying importance.
While most will feature in friendlies, Christian Norgaard, Riccardo Calafiori and Viktor Gyokeres face crucial World Cup play-offs for Denmark, Italy and Sweden, respectively.
Arsenal will also be represented at youth level, with players involved for England’s under-21s, under-19s and under-17s, all competing in European Championship qualifiers.
Kepa Arrizabalaga, Ben White and Gabriel Jesus were not called up, while Martin Odegaard and Mikel Merino remain sidelined through injury.
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