Hello again, Arsenal. It has been a while \u2014 well, almost two weeks \u2014 and hopefully many have been able to turn the manic noise down slightly and take a rare opportunity to breathe and think about other things.<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t apply to anyone who was emotionally involved in the World Cup play-offs, so sorry to all those forbidden even a moment\u2019s peace to take stock and brace themselves for what lies ahead between now and the end of May.<\/p>\n
This run-in is going to be a test of nerve, a rollercoaster lurching and hurtling for at least seven weeks until the Premier League wraps up (eight if Arsenal can reach the Champions League final). Strap in.<\/p>\n
All we do know at this point is that it will generate very strong feelings and reactions, and nobody can say where on earth heads will be at the end of it, when they finally get to stop making deals with higher powers and open their eyes.<\/p>\n
Arsenal have a minimum of 10 matches remaining this season and a maximum of 15, depending on how far they progress in their two remaining cup competitions. The difference is not just in workload, but also in the intensity of the schedule.<\/p>\n
If they get past Championship hosts Southampton in the FA Cup on Saturday and reach a semi-final and potentially a final in that competition, Premier League fixtures against Newcastle and Burnley would both need to be rescheduled and squeezed into late-season midweeks. If they see off Sporting CP in the Champions League\u2019s last eight, key league points will be at stake in matches played either side of a two-leg European semi-final.<\/p>\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2026\/04\/01053807\/image-3.png\")
<\/p>\n
Fixture congestion and little recovery time between games are signs that a team is doing well. Long gaps without matches tell their own, rather different, story. There is no doubt that, for all the headaches and muscular strain, this is where Arsenal want to be.<\/p>\n
The group will be reassembling at their training base just north of London in the coming days, with the last remaining stragglers returning from international duty with mixed emotions. Viktor Gyokeres is buoyant as the poster boy for Sweden\u2019s World Cup qualification, while Riccardo Calafiori and Christian Norgaard return bereft after play-offs pain with Italy and Denmark respectively. Kai Havertz enjoyed his time with Germany after a long absence from the scene.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2026\/04\/01053226\/GettyImages-2268696006-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n Sweden hero Viktor Gyokeres should return to Arsenal in a great mood (Jonathan Nackstrand \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n David Raya and Cristhian Mosquera won caps for Spain. Ben White felt the support of his England manager juxtaposed with the jeers of some of the team\u2019s so-called fans. Max Dowman and Myles Lewis-Skelly strutted their stuff in England\u2019s younger age groups. Gabriel Martinelli was the latest back after playing for Brazil in the United States in the early hours of Wednesday UK time and a transatlantic journey afterwards. He reappears with a goal to his name, and no doubt a case of jet lag.<\/p>\n Pulling everyone together fast is the mission for manager Mikel Arteta, particularly as it will be the first time they gather as a group since the bleak disappointment of collective underperformance in the Carabao Cup final. Once they left the dressing room at Wembley on March 22, they had to deal with that hurt individually.<\/p>\n The international breaks are not always welcome for club sides \u2014 Arsenal have lost more than enough important players to injury while away with their countries over recent seasons \u2014 but this one felt different. The timing was a relief of sorts. Following that painful runners-up feeling at Wembley, a pause from the club-football treadmill was no bad thing. A few got to stay behind at London Colney, rest their legs, calm their minds, and allow niggles to heal.<\/p>\n That this group included William Saliba and Gabriel, the central-defensive colossi who carry so much for Arsenal, felt like a classic move from the Sir Alex Ferguson international-tweak playbook. For Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka to also receive time to nurse body and soul was an undeniable bonus and England coach Thomas Tuchel\u2019s intelligence in how he used many of his overstretched squad, sacrificing something personally for potential gains further down the line, was exemplary.<\/p>\n Sixteen Arsenal players went off on international duty. Quite a lot did not stay on it for very long. Some picked up niggles and knocks.<\/p>\n There has not been a lot of sympathy in the wider world for players packing up early at their countries\u2019 camps and heading home. Tellingly, the international managers concerned have been accepting \u2014 they are able to comprehend directly the physical and mental pressures many elite players are carrying at this sensitive stage of the season, and with a World Cup around the corner.<\/p>\n For Arsenal, time is of the essence. The process of repairing injuries and reigniting collective focus is well underway.<\/p>\n Matches have come so frequently this season, and Arsenal have been so adept at responding to the blows along the way that Arteta has reason to back his squad to give themselves a push, even if that Carabao Cup final defeat feels \u2014 strangely \u2014 more than a week and a half ago.<\/p>\n It is straight back to the hurly-burly with matches across three competitions in eight days.<\/p>\n Southampton and the game in Lisbon three days later matter, of course, but reacquainting themselves with the Premier League title chase at home against Bournemouth a week on Saturday is gargantuan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hello again, Arsenal. It has been a while \u2014 well, almost two weeks \u2014 and hopefully many have been able to turn the manic noise down slightly and take a … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}