The first international break of the year is nearly over but Monday's fixtures brought about one fresh injury concern for Arsenal.
As revealed by Ghana manager Chris Hughton, Thomas Partey wasn't risked in their Africa Cup of Nations qualification clash against Angola with an injury which isn't thought to be too serious: "Thomas has some small issues, a small injury issue and we felt it was too big of a risk to start him," he said.
On one hand, this is exactly what Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta would have been hoping to avoid as he did call for his 14 senior players selected for international duty to return in the same physical state they left in. With that said, the fact Partey was fit enough to make the bench suggests the midfielder should be fine.
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As a result, the Spanish tactician is now just one more round of fixtures away from avoiding the worst-case scenario ahead of his side's return to Premier League action against Leeds United.
England's final game of the international window took place on Sunday at Wembley Stadium against Oleksandr Zinchenko's Ukraine which means Bukayo Saka and Aaron Ramsdale don't have far to travel. In the former's case, his goal and assist proves he's more than ready to play a big part in the Premier League title race.
In a boost for the Gunners, Jorginho didn't play a single minute of Italy's 2-0 win over Malta at the weekend so will have begun the process of returning to London Colney, if he hasn't done so already, whilst young goalkeeper Karl Hein completed his commitments with Estonia on Monday evening against Austria.
Matt Turner and Jakub Kiwior should also be flying back to the UK shortly after representing USMNT and Poland respectively.
So, for Arteta's dream international break to be confirmed, all he needs is for his six remaining Arsenal first-team players still on duty to be managed sensibly. Martin Odegaard is expected to feature for Norway against Georgia, Kieran Tierney is in line to start for Scotland against Spain whilst Granit Xhaka can make it four goals in as many games for club or country as Switzerland face Israel.
Elsewhere, Leandro Trossard could win cap number 26 for Belgium against Germany, Emile Smith Rowe can get more minutes under his belt as England U21s face Croatia U21s and Fabio Vieira may return to the Portugal U21s starting line-up against their Norwegian counterparts.
Though the news surrounding Partey is likely to worry supporters given his injury record since joining from Atletico Madrid, Ghana's decision to not risk him is greatly appreciated and Arteta will be hopeful that the good news continues to flow during the final round of international fixtures that affects Arsenal.
The Spaniard went into the break and was handed an injury blow with the news that Takehiro Tomiyasu has been ruled out for the remainder of the season. However, those considered part of his strongest XI such as Benjamin White, Gabriel Magalhaes, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus should be fresh after not being called up.
This means with the exception of Mohamed Elneny and Tomiyasu - two long-term absentees - almost every single first-team player is fit. But come Wednesday night, Arteta will discover if his near full-strength Arsenal squad is still intact as he also awaits good news on William Saliba and Eddie Nketiah.
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