Morning all. Hope everyone is good.

We have had a few days off out of respect of the life of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

We are a strong and resilient nation so this week we return to some sort of normality, including hopefully football returning.

Without opening it up for too much debate, I’m of the stance that football should have gone ahead at the weekend. That it would have shown more respect to her life to follow other sports in a minutes silence a rendition of God Save The Queen.

Due to no football, there is not much really to blog about this morning other than the naming of the Brazil squad for the upcoming international break.

A bit of fuss has been made about our 3 Gabi’s being left out of the Brazil squad. It really is a non-story.

Opposition fans have used it as a stick to beat Arsenal with. Saying it shows we overrated our players.

Brazilian manager Tite has explained that Gabriel Jesus has been dropped to enable him to look at other forwards. This would indicate Jesus is a guaranteed starter come the World Cup.

Would be like Gareth Southgate leaving Harry Kane out so he can have a look at Ivan Toney.

Meanwhile Gabriel Martinelli has just 3 caps for his country. He has not been dropped, he is just on the fringes of the squad. Always an outside bet to make the World Cup.

With Neymar and Vinicius Junior fighting it out to start on their left hand side, it is no real disgrace to to miss out.

The fact he is probably next in line after these two shows just what a talent he is.

When you also take into account they also have Jesus and Richarlison that have played on that flank, the left hand sid is arguably Brazil’s strongest position.

If Martinelli played regularly on the right hand side I am sure he would have got in ahead of Anthony and Raphinha.

As for Gabriel Magalhaes, he has never been capped for his country.

For a long time Thiago Silva and Marquinhos have been the first choice pairing for Brazil. Eder Militao has become the 3rd choice in recent years.

Tite has selected Juventus’ Bremer and Roma’s Ibanez in his final squad. Like Gabriel, both are uncapped.

There really isn’t much between the 3 in terms of age and profile. You could probably pick 2 of the 3 at random and it wouldn’t make much difference.

Personally I am just happy that all 3 get a little break. And with the World Cup in December, it could be an advantage having less players called up to it.

I won’t be too upset if those players on the fringes of their national team (Cedric, Ben White, Gabriel, William Saliba, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Emile Smith Rowe, Fabio Vieira, Gabriel) miss out.

Add in those whose countries didn’t make it (Kieran Tierney, Martin Odergaard, Olexsandr Zinchenko, Mohamed Elneny) and those who are not close to selection (Rob Holding, Eddie Nketiah, Marquinhos) and it could be that the vast majority of our squad is “left at home”. This will be a huge advantage.

Those left at home will be nicely rested and raring to go come the return of football on Boxing Day.

It will also allow the club to give the likes of Bukayo Saka, Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka, Gabriel Jesus and Takhehiro Tomiyasu a breather on their return.

Rather than rushing those players back for the hectic Christmas schedule, they could all be given a week off and we ca utilise the freshness of those players not selected.

As the season reaches its business end, those clubs who had a lot of players on a 6 week winter break could be at a huge advantage.

Enjoy your day. And remember if you are struggling with what has happened over the last few days, our DMs are always open.

Keenos