Day five of the 2022 World Cup was certainly a busy one for Arsenal as nearly half of their 10 representatives were in action.
football.london have been keeping tabs on how the tournament has started for the Gunners' stars and will continue to do so throughout their time in Qatar as manager Mikel Arteta will be hopeful his players return unscathed when the Premier League season resumes on Boxing Day.
Wednesday brought about the first shock of the World Cup involving an Arsenal player - as well as a former Arsene Wenger signing - and Thursday afforded supporters the chance, in a dream scenario, to see another four representatives in action across three separate fixtures.
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The first game of the day saw Granit Xhaka's Switzerland get off to the perfect start by beating Cameroon 1-0. Just like his role at club level, the midfielder was given license to join the attack and come close to grabbing a second for his nation but was denied by Andre Onana.
On a further note, Xhaka is on course for the perfect World Cup prediction. In the ' Behind the scenes at the Arsenal 2022 World Cup shoot' video uploaded to YouTube, the 30-year-old lists Switzerland's opponents in order of fixtures and says "so nine points". It's a date with the five-time world champions next, so things are about to get interesting.
Speaking of Brazil, they closed out the opening round of group-stage matches against Serbia. Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli both started came off the bench in the second half, but in truth, Tite's decision to go with Richarlison through the middle was vindicated as the Tottenham striker scored both goals in the 2-0 win.
Sandwiched between those fixtures, Thomas Partey was part of the Ghana side that faced Cristiano Ronaldo for the first time since the 37-year-old's contract with Manchester United was terminated by mutual consent earlier in the week. The Portugal captain got on the scoresheet as the Gunners midfielder was on the wrong end of a 3-2 defeat.
It was a recovery day for Takehiro Tomiyasu after Japan's exploits against Germany, whilst William Saliba has been preparing for France's second fixture against Denmark tomorrow afternoon.
Bukayo Saka, Ben White and Aaron Ramsdale have all trained ahead of England's next group game which so happens to be against Matt Turner's USA. Whilst the Gunners' backup keeper is likely to start, the number one has engaged in some feisty but friendly exchanges with comedy actor Will Ferrell.
"When that whistle goes, you'll be the worst actor in the world," Ramsdale told Ferrell. "Elf will be on the shelf, and it will be a little less Anchorman and more w*****man," the goalkeeper claimed, playing on some of the titles of the films that the 55-year-old has headlined.
It led to a response when Ferrell made an appearance on Capital FM, saying: "Wow. Mr. Aaron Ramsdale. Aaron you didn’t realize when you gave those quotes, Aaron you didn’t realize, I know where you live. And I’m delivering a bag of s*** to your doorstep. I’m going to light it on fire and you’re going to have to stomp it out, you’re going to have s*** all over your football boots. Alright Aaron?!"
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