Whilst international breaks are a bit rubbish, it’s still nice to watch Arsenal players in action, although many of us would prefer if they simply sat on the bench for 90 minutes!
Either way, we can’t change the fact that they’re going to be playing so we might as well watch them and hope that they do well and more importantly, that they don’t get hurt!
Here’s our guide to which Arsenal first team players are playing and when you’ll be able to see them in action if you choose to tune in.
We’ve also recapped the performances of the Gunners stars over the last week:
Kick-offs all UK times
Thursday 6th October
4pm – BT Sport 1 – Kazakhstan U21 v England U21 (Rob Holding)
Holding played the entire 90 minutes next to Arsenal loanee Calum Chambers as England’s U21 won 1-0. He played over 85 minutes on a yellow card after a poor early challenge.
10pm – Ecuador v Chile (Alexis Sanchez)
Sanchez played the whole 90 minutes but couldn’t prevent Chile’s 3-0 defeat. He hardly had a sniff of goal, but did have a great chance in the 75th minute but his attempted dink was saved well.
Friday 7th October
12.30am – Paraguay v Colombia (David Ospina)
Ospina kept a clean sheet as Colombia snatched a late goal to win 1-0 in Paraguay. He made a few good saves but did get lucky when he spilled a header from Gustavo Gomez straight to Dario Lezcano whose shot was blocked on the line.
7:45pm – Sky Sports 4 – France v Bulgaria (Laurent Koscielny)
Koscielny played well alongside Rafa Varane as France beat Bulgaria 4-1. The Arsenal man was solid as usual and made some very smart interceptions.
Saturday 8th October
5pm – ITV – England v Malta (Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott)
Whilst The Ox didn’t see any action, Walcott came back from the international wilderness to start as England defeated Malta 2-0. He performed pretty well but was taken off around the 70 minute mark.
7.45pm – Sky Sports Mix – Germany v Czech Republic (Shkodran Mustafi and Mesut Ozil)
Mustafi was an unused substitute in the game but Ozil played as Germany won 3-0. He was kind of involved in the first goal although not how he would have liked! He failed to connect on a simple pass from Mario Gotze but the ball ran to Thomas Muller who scored. He should have scored later on after Julian Draxler sent him through with a lovely ball but his shot was deflected over the bar.
Sunday 9th October
1:30pm – Zambia v Nigeria (Alex Iwobi)
Iowa scored his first international goal as Nigeria beat Zambia 2-1. Zambia failed to deal with a long throw and headed it straight to Iwobi, and he volleyed home. He played the whole 90 minutes.
3:30pm – Congo v Egypt (Mohamed Elneny)
Elena played the entire 90 minutes in the heart of Egypt’s midfield as they came from 1-0 down to win 2-1 at the Stade Municipal de Kintele.
Monday 10th October
7:45pm – ITV4 – Netherlands v France (Laurent Koscielny)
Koscielny hardly put a foot wrong as France won in Holland. He was involved in the only goal of the name after intercepting a pass and playing the ball to Dimitri Payet. Payet gave the ball to Pogba, who hammered home from distance. Koscielny was somewhat fortunate to not to be flagged for handball late in as he dived to block Vincent Janssen’s shot.
7:45pm – Sky Sports Red Button – Andorra v Switzerland – (Granit Xhaka)
Xhaka returned from suspension to captain Switzerland for the first time as they edged past Andorra. He played the whole 90 minutes as his side won 2-1.
7:45pm – Spain U21 v Estonia U21 (Hector Bellerin)
There was talk that Hector Bellerin may have been carrying an injury but he played the whole game as Spain U21s won 5-0. Bellerin set up the third goal after some neat interplay with Munir.
Twitter: Pared en la frontal del área, se la prepara y la coloca donde no puede llegar el portero estonio: https://t.co/zOkvd9TKMT (@VCForever)
Tuesday 11th October
7:45pm – Sky Sports 1 – Germany v Northern Ireland (Shkodran Mustafi and Mesut Ozil)
There were some concerns that Ozil had picked up an injury as he was taken off at half-time as Germany beat Northern Ireland 2-0 but he tweeted to tell everyone that he’s fine.
Twitter: Thanks for taking care because of my substitution but everything is all right guys
#GERNIR #DieMannschaft (@MesutOzil1088)
7:45pm – ITV – Slovenia v England (Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott)
Theo Walcott played 62 minutes as England drew 0-0 with Slovenia. The Arsenal man struggled to get into the game, as did most of his teammates!
9:30pm – Colombia v Uruguay (David Ospina)
Ospina captained Colombia in their 2-2 draw. He played well and wasn’t to blame for the goal and he also made a wonderful save to deny Edinson Cavani shortly before half-time.
Wednesday 12th October
12:30am – Chile v Peru (Alexis Sanchez)
Sanchez started and played 90 minutes for Chile as they won 2-1 to kickstart their qualifying campaign. Sanchez played well, showing touches of class. His pass to release Jean Beausejour stood out, although Beausejour’s cross was not converted by Arturo Vidal.
