When Premier League teams take breaks, they either stop their progress or feel relieved.

For Arsenal, it’s the second option, even though they just went 16 games without losing in all competitions, which is the longest streak in Mikel Arteta’s five-year reign.

In fact, this could be the most important part of the Gunners’ season as they get ready for another title run. They are currently one point behind the leaders with five wins from seven league games.

Arteta has had to deal with a lot of injuries in the first few months of the season. Their strong starts in the league and in Europe against Aston Villa, Tottenham, Manchester City, and Paris Saint-Germain make it even more amazing.

 

David Raya, Mikel Merino, Jurrien Timber, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Ben White, Gabriel Jesus, and Oleksandr Zinchenko, along with captain Martin Odegaard, have all been to the treatment room so far with different types of injuries.

But this break, which for some players lasts until October 16, has given Arteta a unique chance to start over because so many of his stars are staying at London Colney instead of flying off to play elsewhere.

Long-term, this could give North London a huge edge over title foes Liverpool and Manchester City, who are coming up with another tough stretch of games.

 

Ten Arsenal players are currently away with their countries. They are Raya and Merino from Spain, William Saliba from France, Riccardo Calafiori from Italy, Jakub Kiwior from Poland, Leandro Trossard from Belgium, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka from England, and Gabriel and Gabriel Martinelli from Brazil.

Mikel Arteta has overseen a strong start despite several injury issuesCredit: Getty

Skipper Martin Odegaard has been a big-name casualty so far this term

But unlike most international times, Arteta also has a full starting XI of senior stars to work with, whether it’s to get them back in shape, give them a much-needed break, or help with strategy.

 

That eleven is made up of Neto, Timber, White, Tomiyasu, and Zinchenko. They are followed by Jorginho, Odegaard, Thomas Partey, Jesus, Kai Havertz, and Raheem Sterling.

Neto, a Brazilian player who joined from Bournemouth in the summer, hasn’t played since the 5-1 win over Bolton in the third round of the Carabao Cup last month.

 

Four defenders—Timber (muscular), White (groin), Zinchenko (calf), and Tomiyasu (knee]—hope to be able to play in the Premier League match against the Cherries on October 19.

The most likely players are Timber and Tomiyasu. Tomiyasu played off the bench in last weekend’s 3-1 win over Southampton, which was his first game since May.

 

Odegaard is also in a tight race to make the Vitality team. He hurt an ankle ligament during Norway’s last international break on September 9 and is making good progress since then. White and Zinchenko are also in the same situation.

 

Partey was supposed to fly with Ghana to play Sudan this week, but he had to cancel at the last minute because he was sick. Jorginho, who is 32 years old, was left out of Italy’s team.

Even though Sterling made his first Premier League start for Arsenal against Southampton, he has not yet been called up to play for England. Jesus was also left off the Brazil team.

 

According to SunSport, Havertz has had a small knee problem since the end of last season, including while playing for Germany in the Euros. He will use this time to recover after a great start to the season in which he scored four goals and set up one in seven Premier League games.

Kieran Tierney, who was forgotten, is also getting back to speed. However, Arteta has made it clear that the Scot is not in his plans because he already has too many full-backs and will likely be looking to sell in January.

 

City, on the other hand, has 13 players on international service, including 10 of the 11 starters in the 3-2 win over Fulham.

Liverpool has 16 senior players away from Merseyside this month. Nine of the starting eleven that won 1-0 at Crystal Palace are not with the team.

 

If Arteta makes good use of this time to get most of his team back in shape and ready to go, it will be a huge help as they head into a tough stretch.

Next week, they play Bournemouth. Then, they have two home games against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League and Arne Slot’s Reds.

 

Then they have four straight away games: Preston in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup, Newcastle, Inter Milan in the Champions League, and then a strong Chelsea team.