The latest round of international games is upon us, with the first of two sets of World Cup qualifiers being played yesterday night. Numerous Arsenal players were involved, to varying degrees of success.

Goalscorers

A surprising number of Arsenal players scored last night. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain got England’s second in their walkover victory against San Marino. The winger had a sprightly game, always looking up for it despite the quality of the opposition. He also recorded an assist for Jermaine Defoe.

Olivier Giroud started up front with Karim Benzema for France, and did more than his Real Madrid counterpart, scoring France’s opener for a 3-1 win.

Aaron Ramsey had an extremely eventful game for Wales, the side he used to captain, scoring a penalty to equalise before being sent off for a professional foul in the final minute of their 2-1 win over Scotland.

Aaron’s been extremely clever there. He only misses Wale’s next qualifier midweek, leaving him fresh for a probable start against Reading at home next weekend.

Casualties

Fortunately, only Theo Walcott has suffered an injury so far on international duty. With that said, he’s expected to be out for a few weeks with a groin strain. He flew home from the England camp on Thursday and is now recuperating at Arsenal.

Walcott hasn’t been in anything like his early season form of late, and Oxlade-Chamberlain coming into some form means he shouldn’t be missed too much.

Mixed fortunes for the defensive musketeers

Per Mertesacker played 90 minutes of Germany’s 3-0 win over Kazakhstan, in a game where he had very little to do. Laurent Koscielny was an unused substitute for France, as he’s being saved for the more important game against Spain (one to watch out for, by the way). Thomas Vermaelen picked up a booking but still helped Belgium to a clean sheet against Macedonia.

The rest

Santi Cazorla played 45 minutes for Spain, while Lukas Podolski came on as a sub for Germany. Serge Gnabry scored twice for Germany’s Under-18s, with a call-up to a more senior level seemingly imminent.

Besides that, there’s been very little to talk about. The Sczceszny saga has calmed down, while Thomas Vermaelen is dancing the evasive dance of a man who wants to leave in the summer.

“I haven’t heard anything about Barcelona or Manchester City, so I can’t say anything about it”, he insists. I’ll believe that when I see it, Thomas.

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