In the wake of the sad news that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II passed away on Thursday, the Premier League has announced that all fixtures will be postponed as a sign of respect. Therefore, Arsenal’s home match with Everton is set to be rearranged at a later date with no clear sign at present when that might be.
Arsenal’s next match is against Brentford the following Sunday. Although, there have been suggestions that the weekend of the week beginning September 12th could also be postponed in line with the Queen’s state funeral if it is to take place on Sunday September 18th.
That would mean the Gunners would not play until after the international break, causing the north London derby to suddenly become the next Premier League clash. football.london takes a look at the three Arsenal players set to benefit most from this break.
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Thomas Partey
Thomas Partey has been unavailable since a training injury prior to the 2-1 win over Fulham. Mohamed Elneny deputised in this match but suffered a serious hamstring injury that will keep the Egyptian out for ‘months’.
Whilst Elneny will not be back in October, Partey was reportedly close to a return with suggestions he could even come back for the Everton game this weekend prior to its subsequent postponement. With the potential for the rest of September to be void of Premier League matches, it should give the Ghanaian the opportunity to get fully fit for the north London derby.
Sambi Lokonga has deputised but despite a good display against Aston Villa, made two errors in the away match with Man United costing the team goals. Many felt had Partey been involved instead, the outcome of the game might have been very different and so his presence for the derby will be a massive boost.
Bukayo Saka
Unlike Partey, Bukayo Saka has been involved in nearly all of Arsenal’s fixtures for the best part of the last two to three years. He has become an undroppable talismanic figure who last season took his game to the next level becoming a key goalscorer on Mikel Arteta’s side.
However, due to this responsibility he has not been granted anywhere near enough rest over this period, made worse by Gareth Southgate’s inclusion of him in England’s Euro 2020 tournament last year.
Whilst England will play matches at the end of this month in the final international break before the World Cup, Saka should at least get some additional recovery time. At present, Arsenal’s match with PSV in the Europa League next Thursday is expected to go ahead and with no Premier League game, Arteta will likely use a full-strength side for the trickiest clash of the group.
Still, any extra time without a match will come as a welcome break for Saka. That said, Marquinhos’ strong performance against Zurich can hopefully offer some assurance that there is quality waiting in the wings for rotational purposes.
Aaron Ramsdale
Ramsdale is the out and out No.1 goalkeeper at Arsenal after the departure of Bernd Leno. He took the spot from the German swiftly and only lost it for cup games and the 1-0 win away to Aston Villa having suffered an injury.
With Matt Turner now the deputy, there has been concerns raised about the drop in quality and in particular the distribution of the American stopper. Ramsdale suffered a minor issue in the recent 2-1 home win over Villa last week but was deemed fit for the trip to Manchester United.
If Ramsdale was playing through any minor issue, the break away from the Premier League action might give any lingering issues longer time for rest and recovery if it was even needed. Arsenal will be hoping that no further issues plague the England international, with hopes of a Champions League qualification objective potentially hanging on the goalkeeper’s long-term presence in the side.
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