Arsenal boys on the scoresheet as the Interlull ends

Morning.

The Arsenal lads were among the goals yesterday at the end of the October Interlull. Let’s start with:

Mikel Merinos: He scored twice as Spain beat Bulgaria 4-0. He opened the scoring for his country with a strong header (watch here), and made it 2-0 with another decisive header (watch here) to make it 6 goals in his last three appearances for Spain. You’ll recall he scored a hat-trick in Türkiye in September, and his remarkable goalscoring record continued yesterday.

Then speaking about his ability to find the back of the net, he said:

This is not a coincidence. I have said for years that this was an aspect that I wanted to improve. That and assists, being a little more decisive, and I think I’m doing that now. I hope I can continue this streak because a midfielder who brings goals is important for the team.

I think there is no doubt that the improvement is directly linked to our need to deploy him as a center forward last season, following all the injuries we suffered. It seems to have unlocked something in him, a latent ability in the penalty box which – as we saw against Newcastle – was vital for us this season, and under Luis de la Fuente only his former Real Sociedad team-mate Mikel Oyarzabal has scored more goals for Spain. It may be a purple stain, but either way, you can’t argue with the assertion that he’s someone who poses a real threat these days. Not bad for a “DM”, eh?

In the same match, Martin Zubimendi played 63 minutes before being substituted.

Eberechi Eze: He was on the scoresheet for England, adding some shine to the scoreline of an already well-won game in Latvia. He scored the fifth goal (watch here), but the job was already done.

There was also some nice common sense management from Thomas Tuchel as, while Myles Lewis-Skelly played the full 90 minutes (useful minutes for him, to be honest), Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka were taken off in the 61st minute, so they didn’t have to endure as heavy a night’s work as we might have feared.

Gabriel Martinelli: He scored for Brazil (watch here) as they lost 3-2 to Japan in a friendly. It’s good for him, at least. Big Gabi was an unused sub, thanks Carlo.

Max Dowman: The 15-year-old became the youngest goalscorer in England U19 history in a 7-0 win over Wales. He broke a record held by Ryan Sessegnon. I can’t find a clip, sorry.

Elsewhere, Riccardo Calafiori played the full 90 games in Italy’s 3-0 win over Israel, while Cristhian Mosquera did the same in Spain U21’s 2-1 win over Finland, playing as a right centre-back in that match. And that, my friends, is the conclusion of this Interlull. At this stage it appears there have been no injuries to worry about, and hopefully the players on the scoresheet can return with a little more confidence as we start to look ahead to the weekend and the matches that follow.

There’s not much else going on this morning, so if you have a few spare minutes, could you do us a favor and nominate Arseblog for the 2025 FSA Awards? I think we fit better in the Fan Media and Club Podcast categories, but I’ll let you decide. You can find the nomination form here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/fsa-awards-2025-nominations

Thanks in advance! A little later tonight we’ll have an episode of Waffle for our Patreon members, which is the podcast where James and I answer questions about anything and everything except Arsenal and football. So look forward to that, and I’ll be back here tomorrow with more blog news and a brand new Arsecast later today as well.

Until then. Have a good one.