The curse is still on: Arsenal lose another key player at international duty

The international break has taken another victim, and - just like in September and October - an Arsenal player could not avoid a "terrible fate," i.e. an injury. And while the more recurrent injuries are a logical consequence of a dense schedule, high number of games and frequent international breaks, some teams seem to be much more unfortunate than the others.

Guess who hates international breaks the most?

Pep Guardiola has often complained about injury issues and had what to say about national teams as well, but compared to Arsenal, Man City are a synonym for luck, as the Gunners lost their fifth player in the third international break since the beginning of the season.

Leandro Trossard was forced to leave the pitch after only 37 minutes in Belgium's defeat to Israel two days ago, and the severity of his injury is still unknown. September's international duty "took away" Martin Odegaard and Riccardo Calafiori, while Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli faced injury setbacks last month.

Additionally, Mikel Arteta's problems are piling up, as he has already been deprived of several players ahead of the aforementioned break. Saka and Declan Rice dropped out of England's squad due to injuries, while Ben White has undergone knee surgery and will return to the team next year. Takehiro Tomiyasu, Kieran Tierney, and Calafiori had previously been sidelined.

Jurrien Timber and Odegaard have finally returned, filling some gaps, but now others are open. On Saturday, Arsenal face Nottingham Forest, arguably the most pleasant surprise in the Premier League so far, and it's still vague who Arteta will have at his disposal.