Arsenal have waved goodbye to their World Cup participants as the ten call-ups leave for their national sides. Mikel Arteta will be over the moon with the contribution of his entire squad which has seen the Gunners rise to the top of the Premier League table with a five-point gap to Manchester City in second.
However, the work doesn’t stop with a large portion of the squad remaining at London Colney. Arsenal are expected to play a behind-closed-door friendly the week commencing November 28 against Watford, according to The Athletic.
Games against both Lyon and AC Milan are expected to follow abroad, football.london understands. Finally, on December 17 Arsenal could play a friendly at the Emirates Stadium with reports suggesting Barcelona are in talks to be their opponent.
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Furthermore, there is an expectation that players not travelling to the World Cup will be given ten days off to recover from the early season onslaught before returning to prepare for the Premier League return on Boxing Day. With this information, we can estimate the potential earliest possible returns of some of the squads’ players.
If Arsenal choose to give a ten-day break to their World Cup performers then they could meet up with their teammates at the warm-weather training which football.london understands could be in Dubai.
December 9
Both Group A and B finish their final matches of the initial phase of the World Cup on November 29. This means, given a ten-day break, Matt Turner, Aaron Ramsdale, Ben White and Bukayo Saka, could join back up with Arsenal on December 9.
The United States and England both feature in Group B however England are favourites and therefore the latter trio would be expected to progress. Turner however faces a three-way bout with Iran and Wales for the expected second spot in the group.
December 10
Both Groups C and D finish their final matches of the group stage on November 30. Given a ten-day break, William Saliba would be able to reunite with the Arsenal squad on December 10. That said, it is highly likely France will progress through their group with Tunisia, Australia and Denmark and could even go to the final seeing Saliba return much later.
December 11
Groups E and F will finish their first phase on December 1. The only member of the Arsenal squad involved here is Takehiro Tomiyasu. Japan are in a tricky group with Spain, Germany and Costa Rica and unless they cause an upset could certainly be departing after just three matches meaning Tomiyasu could potentially rejoin the group on December 11.
December 12
The final two groups G and H will complete the group stage on December 2. Thomas Partey’s Ghana take on Uruguay, Portugal and South Korea in what is one of the most competitive selections in the tournament; however, should Ghana fail to progress the Arsenal midfielder could return on December 12.
In group G, Switzerland’s Granit Xhaka faces Brazil’s Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli along with Serbia and Cameroon. Should either nation fail to make it out the group, they too could reintegrate into the Gunners group earlier than expected, although both nations are favourites to progress.
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