The international break always seems to arrive at the wrong time. Just when Arsenal got some sort of momentum with 4-0 and 3-0 wins, the curtain comes down for an almost two week intermission. And when things will resume after the break, Arsenal face three tough road fixtures — friendly Blackburn (13th), Dynamo Kiev (17th, not quite brrrr yet, temp is currently in the 14-28 deg C range) and even more friendly Bolton (20th). Atleast Arsenal have gotten three league games in whereas, in Italy and Spain the break comes after just the opening rounds.

As per Arsenal.com, the following are away on international duty:

William Gallas, Gael Clichy, Samir Nasri, Bacary Sagna
Cesc Fabregas
Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Eboue
Robin van Persie
Theo Walcott
Emmanuel Adebayor
Nicklas Bendtner
Aaron Ramsey
Alex Song
Johan Djourou
Lukasz Fabianski
Carlos Vela

A total of 16 players.

One can imagine if Silvestre, Diaby, Rosicky, Bischoff and Eduardo were not injured, they would have been involved. The only first team members not involved are Almunia, Mannone, Denilson and Wilshere.

So the best situation for Arsenal would be:

1) None of the 16 players gets a game in
2) The players play their part but manage to stay injury free. A bonus would be that the players return back sharper and fitter.

Unfortunately, scenario 1 is not likely. Hopefully option 2 does happen but past experiences indicate otherwise. Still, the relevance of some fixtures comes into focus. Does Van Persie need to play in the friendly against Australia? It was a friendly against Austria where he picked up an injury previously. But the different international managers would argue for the benefit of these games and indicate that they need these games to assess their squad. Previously, it was argued that playing for one’s country was a matter of pride. Does that argument still hold in this day and age of players wanting to move clubs because of higher wages?

If there are Arsenal players who would go out of their way to get themselves benched, that would be greatly appreciated. Maybe some of them could follow Ludovic Giuly’s example. One of the reasons cited for his exclusion from the French national team was the text message he sent to Raymond Domenech’s girlfriend. In Guily’s defense, he explained that he approached the coach and mentioned he was not aware that Domenech was dating the woman in question. Maybe it is just a coincidence but Guily has not been seen playing for France since then.

In the meantime, feel free to discuss the status of the Arsenal players and their quest to avoid injury while helping their nations towards qualification for the 2010 World Cup during this week of internationals.