The knockout stage of the 2022 FIFA World Cup continues to serve up mixed results for Arsenal's performers.
football.london kept tabs on how the Gunners' stars fared during the group phase and will continue to do so during the knockout stage as the tournament in Qatar slowly draws to a close. What started out as a 10-man group has since been cut down to five for one reason or another in the past week.
Ahead of yesterday's round of 16 ties, Matt Turner and Thomas Partey were the first two Arsenal players to be eliminated from the World Cup, a knee injury has resulted in Gabriel Jesus' tournament ending earlier than he would have expected and Ben White left the England camp for personal reasons.
READ MORE: Why Arsenal and England hero Bukayo Saka should win 2022 Fans' Footballer of the Year award
Still, Monday's action provided plenty for supporters to get their teeth stuck into with Takehiro Tomiyasu making his first start of the competition as Japan lost 3-1 on penalties to Croatia. Operating as a right-sided centre-back, football.london kept a close eye on the Arsenal ace with the verdict being that whilst he looked a little rusty, playing 120 minutes is certainly a welcome fitness boost for Mikel Arteta.
Prior to making an appearance off the bench, Gabriel Martinelli joined in the dancing alongside Brazil manager Tite after Richarlison had finished a well-worked team goal. The five-time winners produced their best performance of the tournament to date, running out 4-1 winners to set up a quarter-final meeting with Croatia.
Granit Xhaka will be the last of the Arsenal players to feature in the World Cup round of 16 stage when Switzerland face Portugal this evening. Unsurprisingly, Cristiano Ronaldo has been highlighted as a dangerman for the EURO2016 winners: "You cannot write off Cristiano, he is one of the best players in the world together with (Lionel) Messi," Xherdan Shaqiri said, as per Goal. "This guy can score any second, any minute, he has experience and everyone knows how important he is for Portugal and for his team."
With France and England overcoming Poland and Senegal respectively to set up a quarter-final clash, it means Arsenal are guaranteed to have at least one representative in the World Cup semi-final. Whether that's William Saliba remains to be seen but judging by Les Bleus' Instagram account, he is certainly having a great experience.
Meanwhile, Aaron Ramsdale trained and Bukayo Saka took part in a recovery session as well as fulfilling his media obligations where he commented on comparisons between himself and Kylian Mbappe: "Thank you for the compliment but no. There's only one Kylian Mbappe," he said.
"At the same time, there's only one me. I want to be myself and help the team in the best way I can. There are so many young players in the tournament, I can name so many. Even in our team, there's a young player who's doing unbelievably well in Jude Bellingham. I'm just happy we are all here and doing well. The priority is to win the tournament, not be player or young player of the tournament."
READ NEXT:
Cristiano Ronaldo could solve Arsenal's Gabriel Jesus injury problem amid Edu January decision
Edu spotted with Stan Kroenke making Arsenal January transfer decision amid Gabriel Jesus injury
Pablo Mari recovery, Pepe named in squad and Balogun recall clause - Arsenal loan latest
Gabriel Jesus best and worst case injury scenario revealed with Arsenal set to make announcement
Wilfried Zaha to Arsenal transfer makes perfect sense with Gabriel Jesus injury update imminent
