Morning. Big Vik made it four in a row last night, scoring the only goal in Sweden’s 1-0 win over Romania. It was a case of right place, right time to knock it home from close range (watch here), but you can’t argue against what has been a very productive Interlull for the Arsenal man. Four games, four goals, and hopefully his confidence has been well and truly boosted. Strikers, as we know, thrive on that, and there’s no better way to restore it than sticking the ball in the back of the net. I suspect this could probably see him make the starting line-up for Saturday. Not only did he score twice against Leeds at home last season, he also bagged one at Elland Road, and we have seen Mikel Arteta use good international performances influence his team selection in the past. I recall Mikel Merino scoring a hat-trick for Spain, perhaps last season, and the Arsenal boss said something about how he felt he needed to make the most of a player in a good moment. Perhaps the same will apply for Gyokeres on Saturday. It might depend on Kai Havertz’s fitness too, of course, but the bottom line is Arsenal need the Swedish international to be more of a threat, and it would make sense for the manager to try and make the most of what he has done during this Interlull. Strike while the iron is hot, and all that. In Bologna, Riccardo Calafiori came off the bench to head Italy into a 2-1 lead over Turkey in a game they ultimately won 3-1 (watch here). Set-piece goals have been in short supply so far this season, so it’s nice to see an Arsenal man remind everyone there’s still a threat to be reckoned with. He’s played a bit during this break, with two 90s and 34 minutes last night off the bench, so lets see how he’s managed as we get ourselves back underway. Tonight, there’s just the England lads and the Spanish lads as they face Czechia and Croatia respectively, and I’m sure like all of us Arteta will be keeping fingers crossed for a clean bill of health. Unfortunately, there seems to be a bit of a worry around Ezri Konsa who has returned from England duty for ‘assessment’ at Arsenal. He left with Bournemouth midfielder Alex Scott, who is reportedly set to miss up to 8 weeks, with his club reportedly unhappy at how he was treated while on international duty. Thomas Tuchel played down any suggestion they did anything wrong, and on the Konsa situation he said: “Ezri felt discomfort when he came into camp, played with it against Spain and it got a bit worse so he stayed in camp and tried everything for the match against the Czech Republic and it came too soon. “Unfortunately, he got another hit on the quad and that caused a light trauma and we decided not to let him play through this pain, so he left camp to get treatment for both his issues now.” I don’t like the word trauma, even if it’s prefaced with the word ‘light’. It’s sort of like ‘mild murder’ or ‘fluffy arson’. There are reports that Cristhian Mosquera is back in training, but any injury is unwelcome so fingers crossed it’s nothing too serious for Konsa. There are also reports of an injury to Max Dowman who also returned from duty with England U19s. Part of that might be because he got a red card in his last game and was thus ineligible for their 1-0 defeat to Belgium U19s yesterday, but it’s one to keep an eye on. He spent quite a bit of time sidelined last season because of an ankle injury, and there’s always that concern that because of his age, you just have to be a bit more careful with him. There’s no question of his talent, but at 16 you still have a lot of growing to do, you’re not fully developed physically by any means, and that has to be a consideration for the manager and the medical staff as they use him at this very, very early point in his professional career. Finally for today, there’s been quite a bit of chat over the last few days about Arsenal shelving a possible expansion to the stadium. My understanding is that it went quite far in terms of consultation about how it might work and how many seats might be added, but right now it seems counter-intuitive to hamstring the team in a period when we’ve become as good as this. Giving up home advantage to play at Wembley makes no sense, and I got the distinct sense from Mikel Arteta when he was asked about it a few months ago that this was not something he was particularly keen on – you can understand why. However, over on Arseblog News Andrew Allen has laid out some the changes and developments over the last 20 years, and what might come next. As we discussed on the Arsecast Extra this week, if the club want fans to spend more time in the stadium and spend more money in the stadium, I would love to see them provide better value for the ‘average’ supporter. Introducing premium seats for wealthy people to jump the queue and sit behind the bench feels like the kind of inevitable consequence of the world we live in right now, but that doesn’t mean they can’t also do better for season ticket holders and beyond in terms of what they offer on a match day. There is currency in value, especially with the cost of living these days, and increasing revenue doesn’t necessarily have to come solely from increasing prices or the addition of expensive exclusivity which is the sole domain of those with lots of disposable income. Anyway, I’m sure fan representative organisations like the AST and Aisa will be making that point in their ongoing consultations with the club, and hopefully we see some of that reflected in any new initiatives, particularly around food and drink. Ok, that’s your lot for this morning. Have a great Tuesday folks. 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