So far, so good on the international break for Arsenal with no injuries from the fixtures so far, but things will get a bit heated tonight for Oleksandr Zinchenko and Jakub Kiwior, as Ukraine and Poland feature in the European Championships playoff finals tonight.
Ukraine have a huge clash against Iceland, which will be an interesting encounter. The Scandinavian nation can be a potential banana skin for the Ukrainians, but I feel that Zinchenko and co. have enough in the tank to see out the threat they’d pose, but they will have avoid complacency and of course, profligacy, to ensure that they don’t mess things up on the night.
Poland, on the other hand, have a crunch clash with Wales. The Welsh side has grown in prominence in recent years, but Robert Lewandowski knows that this would probably be his last international tournament for his nation, so I’d expect the Poles to rally around their talisman to get over the line. As a neutral, it will be a pulsating football match to watch.
Elsewhere, there could be as much as six Arsenal players in action tonight with the final sets of friendlies taking center stage.
Martin Odegaard, fresh from a shock 1-2 defeat at the hands of Czechia will be expected to lead the Norwegian side that takes on Slovakia tonight. Speaking of captains, Declan Rice, is set to captain England in their clash against Leandro Trossard’s Belgium tonight. Rice has always been a captain material, enough to sew an agbada, and these leadership qualities saw him get the armband at West Ham at a relatively young age following the departure of stalwart, Mark Noble.
It will be a great moment for Rice and I hope he goes through the big occasion unscathed. To think he had three caps for Ireland before switching allegiances.
Elsewhere, Kai Havertz will be expected to lead the line for Germany in their high-profile friendly against the Netherlands and he would be hoping to get in among the goals. William Saliba will probably play against Chile but I wouldn’t bat an eyelid if he doesn’t, especially with Didier Deschamps scathing comments of him after France’s loss to Germany.
Finally, David Raya would want to put up a monster performance for Spain in their glitz fixture against Brazil. Brazil outclassed England when both sides met last week, while Spain didn’t cover themselves in glory in a loss to Colombia.
Here’s to all the lads returning to London Colney injury free after tonight.
Sayonara
