After the international break, Arsenal will face a slow-starting Everton team at Goodison Park in an attempt to maintain their unblemished start to the season.
The Gunners and manager Mikel Arteta will not have been the only ones to worry about some of their top stars during the early season breaks for international fixtures, but they appear to be able to avoid any unnecessary or unwelcome injuries.
Centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes, who had been the centre of a transfer swirl during the past few weeks before the deadline expired, played the whole 90 minutes for Brazil against Peru after experiencing two separate injury scares in his country’s opening match of the break against Bolivia.
The Arsenal player was the victim of a horrific tackle by Bolivian striker Diego Ibanez on his Brazil debut when Ibanez’s right knee slammed into the star’s chest as he tried to win the ball.
After the challenge, Gabriel would play for an additional 80 minutes, but after being late substituted, he was seen with an ice pack on his leg, raising fears among supporters of an injury.
Nevertheless, many were relieved to see him back in training just two days later after hearing that a scan on his problem had shown no signs of an injury.
Then, for the match against Peru, he teamed up once more with Paris Saint-Germain star Marquinhos. Gabriel played the entire game, keeping a clean sheet, and the Ligue 1 defender nodded in the game’s lone goal from a 90th-minute corner for a 1-0 victory.
The Ghanaian FA reported that Thomas Partey suffered a blow during training, and he will likely miss some time due to a groyne problem. It is unclear how long the midfielder will be sidelined, but reports indicate that the club is hopeful he will recover in time for Sunday’s match against the Toffees.
Due to a knee injury sustained during the season’s opening weekend, Jurrien Timber will also be sidelined. According to football.london, the Dutch international underwent a successful procedure two weeks ago and is currently in the “recovery phase” of his recovery.
Arteta has already highlighted how the left-back’s issue is a ‘huge blow’ for his side after the Gunners failed to find a short-term replacement are on in the transfer window.
There has been no further updates on Mohamed Elneny’s own knee injury which he suffered back in January, with no planned return date announced.