Arsenal fans usually spend any international break in dread of losing more of our players to what is almost always a lengthy injury list, but for once Arsene Wenger has seen all of the Arsenal stars involved for their respective national sides return to north London without any problems.

On top of that the Gunners currently have a smaller injury list than most of our Premier League rivals, even though two of those on it, Petr Cech and Santi Cazorla, are two very key players for us. However, we have to see the manager’s latest injury update on the Arsenal website as a positive one.

He said, “We have lost Petr Cech at West Brom – he will not be fit for Sunday. Apart from that Cazorla, Lucas as well is not fit. That should basically be it.

“[Lucas] has a thigh problem.

“I think [Cech] could miss Sunday and Wednesday against West Ham. He may be available again after.

“Unfortunately no. I think the season is over for [Cazorla].

“[Mesut] is, yes. He is in contention to start again. He played 20 minutes with Germany in Azerbaijan and he came back focused and worked very hard this week.”

So Wenger will be able to field a strong starting line-up for the crucial Premier League game against Man City on Sunday and will also have a strong bench of subs to call on. Our opponents, according to physioroom.com, could be without some big players with Raheem Sterling, Kevin De Bruyne, Sagna and Zabaleta all doubts, while Gundogan and Gabriel Jesus are long term absentees.

The international break, while being good to the Gunners, also hurt our rivals, with Liverpool losing Adam Lallana, Everton losing Coleman and Man United losing Smalling, Jones and possibly Fellaini. The question now is whether the respective injury situations will help Arsenal get back into the top four?

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