That is the distractions out the way. Now to focus on the Arsenal.
We have 12 games left this season. Maybe 15. We are the in-form team in Europe. Players are returning to injury. We just need to keep focusing on ourselves and see where we end up.
Yes, we have some fixture congestion. But you can not be in the fight for multiple trophies at the business end of the season without it. If you do not want fixture congestion, then you are better off supporting someone like Spurs who are never in the race for trophies.
I will be delighted if we end up playing all 15 potential games we have left this season. That will mean we have got to the Champions League final at Wembley.
Teams these days have big squads, with 20 international players. It is down to the manager how he rests and rotates to keep players fresh.
Liverpool also potentially have 15 games left, and we are at the stage of the Europa League that Klopp will begin to take it more seriously – it is the only trophy Klopp has not won with Liverpool and he would not want his final season to end with just a League Cup.
Manchester City potentially have 17 games still play, with them still in the FA Cup. So fixture congestion really is not an excuse for any team (although I imagine Klopp will use it as an excuse).
Up first is Manchester City. Probably the hardest fixture to have after the international break. The positive from our point of view is that all of our players got through international duty without injury, even Declan Rice who played 180 minutes (was this Southgate’s revenge for Saka pulling out / Ben White situation?).
Meanwhile, they saw Kyle Walker limp off against Brazil and John Stones pull up injured in the opening minutes of Belgium. It is unclear the status of both but their worst case scenarios is their season could be over.
Walker went off with a hamstring injury. If it is just a twinge, it could be a couple of days (although if his muscles are on the brink, it is only a matter until his hamstring goes properly). If he has pulled it, that is 6-8 weeks out. Season pretty much over.
The way John Stones knee collapsed could mean it is a serious injury. The worst are always those that happen when an opponent is nowhere near. I would not be surprised if is a ligament injury and his season is over. It should not harm City as they have about a dozen centre backs that they paid £50m+ for…
I have enjoyed the conspiracy theories that both players hobbled off within 10 minutes as some sort of ploy to get out of international duty. Like England do not have their own physios and doctors who would have been able to assess straight away if they were “faking”.
Back to Arsenal. Arteta has had around a dozen or so senior players to work with this last week (they did get a few days off based on Ben White playing Uno on the beach!).
Of the 11 who have been away, 10 were in teams who played yesterday so today. With most of those playing at home, they probably got a flight back to England straight after their games and will report to training this morning following the same rehabilitation schedule as a Tuesday night Champions League game.
It will be massages, stretches and analysis work ahead of Man City today, so nothing to strenuous. And then Arteta will have 3 full days of proper training to prepare ahead of Sunday.
Of those 10 who were still on international duty yesterday, 7 started for their countries, and 3 did not play any minutes. That takes us to 19 players who either stayed at home during the international break or have not played this week.
As above, international duty will not be an excuse for whatever happens Sunday. Just 6 of Arteta’s first team were in action yesterday so everyone should be well rested!
Sunday is huge. It reminds me of Liverpool last season.
I said in 2022/23 that I will not start to believe that we could win the title unless we win at Anfield. We drew 2-2 and then fell away. It is the same this season.
It is so tight at the top. 90 points is what is needed to win it. That means 8 wins and a draw from the last 10 games.
With trips to Manchester United and Tottenham, and home games against Chelsea and Aston Villa still to come, we do not want to drop points too early in this run in. Beat Man City and I will start to believe we can do it. Lose and I fear we might fall away and finish 3rd.
Back the boys!
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 
On paper, think we`ve got the hardest run in but its all about momentum at this stage. If we can find it again after this break then it doesn`t really matter who you face. We`ve got to set out to try and win every game anyway.
I`d take a draw at City right now if it was offered but I hope we go there and have a right go at them. Its very rare that you look at an Arteta team and think they`re not putting it all in but last season at City was one of those moments. Thought we just curled up and died, no resistance whatsoever. We cannot allow that to happen again on Sunday. If we get beat, I hope we go out swinging.
I`m quite bullish, if we can keep them out the first 20 minutes I think we can get a positive result. We can put down a real marker at the weekend, not just for the league but for a potential Champions League semi-final as well.
Up The Arse.
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