Everyone’s tomorrow.
Here’s a quick recap for you on Saturday, which started with Viktor Gökeres scoring again for Sweden. That makes it three games in a row (and probably six Nations League games in a row, although nobody has any idea what a Nations League is). Anyway, he was disallowed before scoring the opener in a 1-1 draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina – watch here.
You don’t often see him in the Premier League with this kind of time and space, but take nothing away from the finish because he absolutely hit it home. Gyokeres scoring for Sweden can only be positive for Arsenal. I suppose he went into this Interlull with a bit of confidence as he had played very little in the league and by his own admission said he needed to do better. So finding a nice streak of goals for his country can’t really be a good thing.
Riccardo Calafiori played the full game as Italy drew 1-1 with France. Michael Olise’s free-kick was really something, anyone who didn’t take a little extra from the ball hitting the underside of the bar then bounced down and headed in. Italy equalized in the second half and as far as I can tell Calafiori went without incident and we’ll wait to see if he’ll be available for Tuesday’s game against Turkey.
Tonight the English and Spanish boys will be fighting for their countries as they face Croatia and the Czech Republic respectively, and at this point I’m starting to lose track of who played who, when and finally why. I know, it’s the Nations League and while this Interlull is meant to give us a bit of a break in the season, it’s hard to watch the expansive nature of it. Especially when there are many games against the same opponent.
Meanwhile, Christos Tzolis returns to North London to have his hamstring injury checked. I saw a Greek reporter suggesting a 2-3 week absence, which suggests it’s a minor problem but a bit of a headache for Mikel Arteta. The left side is feeling a bit thin at the moment and I’m sure the focus will be on Eberechi Eze who will be the man to fill the gap first.
I wonder if the manager could consider other options. Noni Madueke can play there, but apart from a few games in the early part of his Arsenal tenure, he hasn’t really featured in the side. However, him being left-footed could give the team a slightly different dynamic, so it might be worth exploring. I wouldn’t be entirely opposed to Bukayo Saka being used there, leaving Madueke and/or Max Douma as options on the right if necessary. It’s time for the manager to get a little creative, perhaps, and even if any injury is unwanted, it’s not necessarily a bad thing.
With three weeks for Tzolis, he is likely to miss the games against Leeds, Lille and Nottingham Forest, with Bayern Munich the likely target for a return to action in the Champions League. No fixture is easy these days but they’re relatively friendly so hopefully he’s not missed too much and other players who need to step up and contribute in his absence can do so.
Hey look! An entire blog post without mentioning these completely guilty scammers. What a time to live. Enjoy your Saturday, more here tomorrow.