Eleven Arsenal first-teamers will be playing in international matches this weekend and next midweek.  Of those, the French contingent (Bacary Sagna, Gael Clichy, Abou Diaby, and Samir Nasri), Tomas Rosicky, Andrei Arshavin, and Henri Lansbury (for the U21s) could possibly play two games in four days.  Hopefully everyone, as always, manages to avoid any kind of knock.  Arseblog points out that using Jack Wilshere in the same way as Theo Walcott, both the senior England squad and the U21s crying out for his services, is probably not the best plan.

As for the rest of the squad, Walcott, Thomas Vermaelen, Cesc Fabregas, Nicklas Bendtner, and Robin van Persie all will be resting, thank the heavens.  Arsenal fans the world over would love nothing more than to see them all returning to the team as the month of Crapvember November approaches.  The rest of October will be plenty busy, too, matches against Birmingham, Man City away, and West Ham in the Premier League, and the return of Eduardo in the Champions League, along with a Carling Cup tie against Newcastle, mean that all hands will have to get on deck.