Arsenal: 4 biggest positives from international break

4. Rest for Some, Minutes for Others

Would it have been especially taxing for White to have featured in one of England’s glorified training sessions? No, but in not linking up with the Three Lions he got some additional time off, which means he’s fresher, and which also means less Rob Holding in the coming weeks.

Alexandre Lacazette is another one who will have benefited from the break. While he’s never featured in Didier Deschamps’ plans, his recent involvements with Arsenal have notably began suffering from fatigue in and around the 60-70 minute mark, so not being with France will have done him good.

Then there are those who needed the minutes.

Martin Odegaard being Norway’s captain means he is always in the team, and having lost his place in Arteta’s thinking to that very Lacazette, getting two 90 minute games under his belt is precisely what he would have wanted in a bid to wrestle his place back at club level.

Pepe will be hoping for similar although he hasn’t managed to break into the Ivory Coast starting lineup, let alone get in ahead of either Smith Rowe or Saka. Whatever the case, he’s going to play an important role over the winter period so any playing time is better than none.

And while they’re only on the fringes, Mohamed Elneny and Sead Kolasinac also got minutes under their belts with Egypt and Bosnia respectively, even if the latter was once again the subject of an awful challenge that Arsenal are yet to learn the full extent of.

Helpful all round.