Looking back, Mikel Arteta's answer to the question of how the upcoming international holiday could affect Arsenal's squad is really remarkable.
When asked if he plans to talk to the national team coaches who are expected to call up his players, Arteta replied: "We have very good contact with most of the players. We will wait and see how everyone is doing, then we will have conversations and make the right decisions".
Considering that Arsenal is still pursuing an unprecedented quadruple at that time, is this the time that worries him the most before entering the international holiday?
That was a time that I was not very interested in. Especially when we had 18, 19 players playing. And especially with what has happened in our recent history with very important players. But that is part of the schedule and we have to accept that" - Arteta admitted.
Immediately after Arsenal's defeat to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley, the withdrawal of players from the national team began very quickly. First was William Saliba withdrawing from the French national team due to an ankle injury, and immediately after that was Jurrien Timber, who had a groin problem and was not named in the squad to play against Man City.
Within the next 24 hours, Gabriel Magalhaes withdrew from the Brazilian national team, similar to Leandro Trossard with the Belgian national team. Eberechi Eze was also forced to refuse to play for the England national team due to a calf injury that prevented him from the Carabao Cup final.
Arsenal hopes that captain Martin Odegaard can return to play after a persistent knee injury. However, he did not play and then withdrew from the Norwegian national team.
Arteta's efforts to protect the players as they prepare for the difficult, decisive period of the season for Arsenal have led to him being compared to Sir Alex Ferguson's time at Manchester United. He is famous for describing international matches as waste of time, and Wayne Rooney revealed that Ferguson once asked players to only play for no more than 45 minutes.
However, Arteta's worst worry seems to have come true when Noni Madueke and Piero Hincapie both had to leave the field due to injuries in friendly matches between England and Ecuador.
Madueke was seen leaving the field with a knee brace, while Hincapie needs to check the severity of the muscle injury. Both are likely to be absent from the away match against Southampton in the FA Cup, although Arsenal hopes they can return soon.
Before the reaction from fans about many Gunners players withdrawing from the national team, attention will be focused on how many of them can play in the next match. Thomas Tuchel confirmed that Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice really have physical problems and need to rest after a large amount of play in recent seasons.
The same thing happened to Martin Zubimendi - the 11th Arsenal player to withdraw from the national team due to knee pain. The Spanish midfielder is one of the players who has played the most this season. Meanwhile, Christian Norgaard is still not trusted in big matches.
In the opposite direction, Viktor Gyokeres impressed when helping Sweden win a ticket to the World Cup, while Riccardo Calafiori returned in a disappointed mood when Italy continued to miss the biggest tournament on the planet.
After playing more than 50 matches and possibly more if he goes deep in the FA Cup and Champions League, balancing forces will continue to be a difficult problem for Arteta in the decisive stage of the season.
