In the morning.
Big Vic made it four in a row after scoring the only goal in Sweden’s 1-0 win over Romania last night. It was the right place, the right time to fire him home from close range (watch here), but you can’t argue against a very productive Inter for the Arsenal man.
Four games, four goals and hopefully his confidence has well and truly grown. Strikers, as we know, thrive on it, and there’s no better way to recover it than by sticking the ball in the back of the net. I think that could earn him a spot in the starting line-up on Saturday. In addition to scoring twice at home to Leeds last season, he also scored once at Elland Road and we’ve seen Mikel Arteta capitalize on good international performances to influence his team selection in the past.
I remember Mikel Merino scoring a hat-trick for Spain, maybe last season, and the Arsenal boss saying how he felt to get the most out of a player at a good moment. Perhaps the same will apply to Gyokeres on Saturday. Of course, this could also depend on the fitness of Kai Havertz, but the bottom line is that Arsenal need to pose more of a threat to the Swede and it would make sense for the manager to try to make the most of what he has done this Interlude. Strike while the iron is hot, and that’s it.
In Bologna, Riccardo Calafiori came off the bench to give Italy a 2-1 lead over Turkey in an eventual 3-1 win (see here). Goals have been few and far between so far this season, so it’s good to see an Arsenal man reminding everyone that he’s still a threat to be reckoned with. He’s played a bit during this break, two 90s and 34 minutes off the bench last night, so we’ll see how he manages when we find ourselves back in action.
Tonight, we have the England and Spain boys facing the Czech Republic and Croatia respectively, and I’m sure we’ll all be crossing our fingers for a clean bill of health for Arteta. Unfortunately, there is some concern surrounding Ezri Konsa, who has returned from England for an “assessment” at Arsenal. He has parted ways with Bournemouth midfielder Alex Scott, who is reportedly out for up to eight weeks, and is said to be unhappy with the way he has been treated by his club while on international duty.
Thomas Tuchel dismissed any suggestion they had done anything wrong, saying of Konsa’s situation:
“When Ezri came to the camp, he felt discomfort, he played with him against Spain and he got a little bit worse, so he stayed in the camp and tried everything for the match against the Czech Republic and he came on very quickly.
“Unfortunately he took another hit in the quad which caused a minor injury and we decided not to let him play with that pain, so now he’s out of camp to get both of his issues treated.”
I don’t like the word trauma at all, even with the word light in the preface. It’s kind of like “light murder” or “fluffy arson.” There are reports that Cristhian Mosquera is back in training, but any injury is unwanted, so fingers crossed it’s not too serious for Konsa. There are also reports of injury to Max Douma, who returned from England U19 duty. Part of that could be because he got a red card in his last game and was therefore not fit for yesterday’s 1-0 loss to Belgium U19s, but one has to be careful.
He was sidelined a bit last season with an ankle injury and it’s always a concern that you have to be a little more careful with him because of his age. There’s no question about his talent, but at 16 you still have a lot to do, you’re not physically developed at all and that has to be taken into account by the manager and the medical staff as they use him at this very early point in his professional career.
Finally, there has been considerable talk over the past few days of Arsenal holding off on a possible expansion to the stadium. I understand it’s gone pretty far in terms of consultation on how it might work and how many seats might be added, but it seems counter-intuitive to squeeze the team in an era where we’re doing so well now. There’s no point in giving up home advantage to play at Wembley, and when I asked Mikel Arteta about it a few months ago, I realized it wasn’t something he was particularly keen on – you can understand why.
However, Andrew Allen at Arseblog News has outlined some of the changes and developments that have taken place over the past 20 years and what may be coming next. As we discussed on Arsecast Extra this week, if the club wants fans to spend more time in the stadium and spend more money in the stadium, I’d like to see them provide better value for the “average” supporter. Providing premium seats for rich people to queue up and sit behind the bench feels like an inevitable consequence of the world we live in now, but that doesn’t mean they can’t also do better in terms of what they offer season ticket holders and match day.
Value has currency, especially with the cost of living these days, and increased income shouldn’t just come from increased prices or the addition of expensive exclusivity that is the sole domain of those with a lot of disposable income. In any case, I’m sure fan representative organizations such as AST and Aisa will take this point forward in their ongoing consultation with the club and I hope we see this reflected in some new initiatives, particularly around food and drink.
Ok, it’s your turn this morning. Have a good Tuesday friends.