Will Arsenal hit the ground running when they return following the international break?

Well, if they’re going to win the Premier League title, they’re going to have to.

Last time out, Mikel Arteta’s team swatted aside West Ham 2-0 at home, thanks to goals from Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka.

That made it four victories on the spin for the Gunners across all competitions, having conceded just three times in ten outings so far.

Next up in the Premier League, Arsenal’s next four fixtures are against Fulham, Crystal Palace, Burnley and Sunderland, while also facing Atlético Madrid in Slavia Prague in the Champions League, as well as Brighton in the EFL Cup between this international break and the next.

If Arteta’s team are to be considered the serious team that they appear to be, this has to be a sequence of wins, especially in the Premier League, so he will need his big players to come to the fore, notably that man Viktor Gyökeres.

Viktor Gyökeres' miserable international break

While many football fans up and down the country bemoan the international break, another person who is probably pleased to return to club duties is Gyökeres.

This window could hardly have gone any worse for Sweden, losing both World Cup qualifiers, beaten 2-0 by Switzerland in Stockholm on Friday night, before an ignominious 1-0 defeat when Kosovo, world-ranked 91, visited Göteborg on Monday.

The Blågult are therefore rock-bottom of Group B with just a solitary point to their name after four matches, in serious danger of missing out on a third successive major tournament.

Sweden are pretty much guaranteed a play-off spot, by virtue of having won promotion to Nations League B a year ago, Gyökeres the competition’s top scorer with nine goals, but the way they’re playing at the moment, Jon Dahl Tomasson’s team don’t appear likely to make much headway in March’s play-offs.

The Swedish media were ultra-critical of strike partner Alexander Isak, frustrated by his lack of sharpness, but Gyökeres did not get off lightly, with outlet Fotbollskanalen exclaiming that he was ‘a shadow of the striker’ he was before.

In the defeat to Switzerland, Arsenal’s new big-money signing registered just 33 touches, that’s four fewer than goalkeeper Viktor Johansson, before touching the ball only 35 times at the Ullevi on Monday, ranked 20th in the match.

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Across the two defeats, Gyökeres mustered four shots, only one of which found the target, and was largely ineffective, which obviously isn’t all his fault, but this won’t have helped boost his confidence, now without a goal in eight appearances for club and country.

As the centre-forward seeks to end that barren period at Craven Cottage on Saturday, should Arteta also unleash Arsenal’s “little magician” who enjoyed his international break rather more?

Arsenal's "little magician" who should start vs Fulham

While Gyökeres was not having a pleasant evening in Göteborg, just 155 miles west of North London, Leandro Trossard scored his 11th international goal for Belgium, rubber-stamping a vital 4-2 victory over Wales in Cardiff, leaving the Red Devils on the brink of World Cup qualification.

It was a classic Trossard goal, making sure he was in the right place at the right time in the penalty area before finishing crisply as if it was no effort at all.

Back at club level, already this season, the 30-year-old has scored on the road against Athletic Club and Port Vale, cementing 2-0 victories both times, as well as assisting Gabriel Martinelli’s opener at San Mamés and Martín Zubimendi’s header against Nottingham Forest.

Ever since he arrived from Brighton in January 2023, Arsenal very much thankful they ended up with the Belgian rather than Mykhailo Mudryk, he has consistently produced end product, as the table below documents.

Bukayo Saka

42

35

Leandro Trossard

30

25

Kai Havertz

29

13

Gabriel Martinelli

29

16

Martin Ødegaard

24

28

Gabriel Jesus

21

13

Declan Rice

17

23

Since Trossard’s debut in late January 2023, only Bukayo Saka has scored more goals for the club than the Belgian, with only Saka and Martin Ødegaard ahead of him in terms of assists too.

This is despite the fact that he has not always been a guaranteed starter, with 55 of his 132 appearances for the club coming off the bench, while 11 of his 30 goals have been scored as a substitute, including both this season.

Following a win at Wolves in April 2024, Arteta labelled Trossard a “little magician”, adding that he is “so composed, so cool… it’s just a joy to have him in the team”.

Meantime, Arsenal legend Ian Wright, who scored 185 goals for the club, asserted that the Belgian is Arsenal’s “best finisher and most clinical finisher of chances”, praising his movement and suggesting he deserves to start on a more regular basis.

Thus, at Fulham on Saturday, with Ødegaard sidelined, Eberechi Eze is likely to be deployed centrally in the number ten role.

This leaves the left-wing position up for grabs, and Trossard’s form probably warrants a start, even if Martinelli himself scored for Brazil against Japan in Tokyo on Tuesday; he isn’t a bad alternative.

Nevertheless, Trossard’s goal-scoring prowess will help alleviate the pressure on Gyökeres’ shoulders, aiming to bag the goals that the Gunners need if they’re to land the Premier League title.

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