White, Partey and the 12 Arsenal players Mikel Arteta is working with during international break
Things are going pretty well for Arsenal as they head into the international break. The Gunners lead a thrilling Premier League title race ahead of Manchester City and Liverpool, and have qualified for the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in 14 years.
They've won all but one of their matches in 2024 and, in fact, you could even make the argument that the international break poses a threat to the superb momentum they've been able to build up this year. Mikel Arteta is determined to make sure that doesn't happen though.
«We've had a very strange schedule lately,» he said earlier this month. «We had a long period after Newcastle and Sheffield United. The same happened a week or two ago, but we have adapted. We have to have the capacity to adapt to that. We are going to have two games very close to each other and then a big gap after the international break before Man City. So try to plan it the right way to maximise the time we get.»
As he prepares for the business end of the season, Arteta will actually have plenty of his squad to work with at the Sobha Realty Centre. There won't be any first team goalkeepers though. David Raya, Aaron Ramsdale and Karl Hein have all been called up to their respective nations, which has given a chance for young stoppers Ovie Ejeheri and James Hillson to impress in the first team.
When it comes to the outfield players, plenty are staying behind. Cedric Soares has not been called up to the Portuguese national team squad. The 32-year-old is counting down the days in north London and has gained praise for his professionalism on the training ground. The same goes for Mohamed Elneny who will also be at the Sobha Realty Centre over the next two weeks.
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