Emile Smith Rowe, Fabio Vieira and the Arsenal players Mikel Arteta will work with in training
Mikel Arteta will be without several senior players over the next fortnight because of the international break, and therefore an opportunity has opened up for others to work closely with the Arsenal manager.
Following a late call-up for Gabriel Jesus, it means as many as 16 members of the Gunners' current first-team squad will be representing their respective nations in the coming days with Euro 2024, Africa Cup of Nations and the South American section for World Cup qualifiers taking place, as well as a few friendlies.
Unsurprisingly, there is one dream scenario for the Arsenal boss. That is for every single one of his players to come through this international window unscathed as his side have gone into the break two points behind Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table and will want to hit the ground running when the campaign resumes on September 17.
Overall, though, whether this break comes at a perfect time for Arteta remains to be seen but the Spaniard will be able to do extra work on the training pitch with a minimum of six first-team players while he can also call up a number of the club's promising youngsters.
Interestingly, this group will not feature any of the Gunners' three senior goalkeepers as Aaron Ramsdale, David Raya and Karl Hein have been called up by England, Spain and Estonia respectively, butBen White could be the only senior defender who is available for selection that stays behind after another snub from Gareth Southgate.
Cedric Soares is the other defender in question as he's not been selected by Portugal. However, there's no guarantee he will be involved at London Colney for the duration of the international break as he's attracting interest from Benfica, Porto and Sporting CP.
Read on football.london
