From a selfish club point of view, the news we really want is who came through injury-free and who didn’t. But several Arsenal players have put in good international performances and, right now, anything that boosts confidence around the club is a good thing.
Aaron Ramsey was man of the match in the England/Wales game last night. He was easily the best player on the pitch and only a miss that will haunt Rob Earnshaw stopped Wales getting a draw.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain stole the show in England’s Under-21 game with three or four assists. A lot of fans groaned this summer when Arsene Wenger shelled out millions on another teenager, but he clearly has the potential to a huge star.
Wojciech Szczesny might only have been playing a friendly, but you’ll want to watch this save more than once.
Meanwhile, Park Chu-Young scored again for South Korea to bring his tally up to the same as Robin Van Persie’s four. What you want to hear about Van Persie of course is that he appears to have come through two internationals without injury!
So what about all those inevitable injuries? Well, so far so good. Bacary Sagna seems to have got over his virus, playing ninety minutes for France. Walcott and Rosicky didn’t play in the second games, but the word is that this was just a precautionary move on both counts. Having sat out Germany’s first game, Mertesaker put in ninety minutes last night against Poland.
Of course, some muffling injuries don’t surface straight away, but the news so far is better than usual.
