Arsenal have 4 primary fitness concerns ahead of Liverpool clash

Arsenal had no less than 15 players out on international duty over the two-week Premier League break, a worryingly large group having been already put through their paces in a congested season of football.

Of those 15, the main concerns for suffering injury are Bernd Leno, Cedric Soares, Kieran Tierney, Mohamed Elneny, Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Nicolas Pepe, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Emile Smith Rowe. You can almost build a starting lineup.

Some of them are of greater significance than others, namely those in positions with little to no adequate backups.

On the whole, the international break went relatively smoothly for Mikel Arteta.

Arsenal have 4 major fitness concerns from international break ahead of Liverpool clash in the Premier League

The captain played only once for Gabon and returned early from the training camp in Africa as he couldn’t travel to South Africa due to travel restrictions, while Thomas Partey featured only once for Ghana – a full week before the Liverpool clash – for similar reasons. As for Pepe, he didn’t feature at all in the second of Ivory Coast’s two matches.

Elneny, meanwhile, played in just one of Egypt’s two fixtures, Cedric got minutes in his legs and Leno remained behind Manuel Neuer in the Germany pecking order.

All in all, so far so good.

The issues elsewhere can’t be overlooked though, and there are four major fitness concerns for Arteta ahead of Saturday’s visit of Liverpool in the Premier League.

North London also held a collective breath when Odegaard rolled his ankle in Norway’s win over Gibraltar, a terrifying sight that ultimately proved worse than it looked. However, the on loan Real Madrid midfielder started each one of Norway’s three fixtures, having been heavily involved with Arsenal prior. At least his last fixture for his country gives him three days’ rest, unlike others.

Arteta will be sweating on other areas, too.