The second international break of the season is now over and the various Arsenal players involved have all come through it without any more injury problems for Arsene Wenger to worry about, despite some moments of concern about Hector Bellerin and Mesut Ozil.
The Arsenal boss is also boosted by the return to fitness of Francis Coquelin while the likes of Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey are there or thereabouts after more time to recover and gain fitness. But with the Gunners now facing seven games in 22 days before the next international break, the boss needs as strong a squad as possible. But he will also be keen to reduce the risk of our big players picking up the knocks you can get when fatigue comes into play.
The Frenchman will surely have to do some rotating over the next few weeks, with some players especially needing to be looked after due to their heavy workload. The two most in need of a break though, are of course those we would find hardest to replace, so how can Wenger give Alexis Sanchez and Hector Bellerin the rest they could do with and make sure he does not damage the team’s chances of trophy success?
One way would be to pick and choose depending on the matches and the opponents and with two games against Ludogorets and an EFL cup game at home to Reading among our next fixtures you would think that one or a few of those games would be the perfect time to rotate.
I certainly think Bellerin and a few others will be rested for the Champions League match at home to the Bulgarians on Wednesday. But we do not want to field a completely second string side, so with Alexis Sanchez coming back to London just in time for the weekend, do you think Wenger might think of not starting him against Swansea and playing him in midweek?
What about other key players like Koscielny, Ozil and Walcott? How do you think the prof will tackle the balancing act or squad rotation?