Normal service has almost resumed with several members of Arsenal's 24-man strong loan army returning to action over the weekend with the World Cup edging towards its conclusion.
Of course, for one reason or another, not every player had the chance to feature. With the Premier League not back for another fortnight, Ainsley Maitland-Niles took part in Southampton's training session in Spain whilst Pablo Mari is making great progress after being discharged from the hospital following surgery to reconstruct damaged back muscles after being injured in a supermarket stabbing in Milan in October.
Alex Kirk and Tyreece John-Jules are facing up to three months on the sidelines with ankle and hamstring injuries respectively, and have returned to Arsenal for treatment, but are expected to return to Ayr United and Ipswich Town once they are fully fit in the new year.
READ MORE: Mikel Arteta's Arsenal undroppables ahead of Premier League restart after £120m spending spree
Mika Biereth didn't feature in RKC Waalwijk's behind-closed-doors friendly defeat against OH Leuven, but he was due back in training this week and will be hopeful of being named in the squad for the training camp in Portugal later this month. In Scotland, Ryan Alebiosu is gearing up for Kilmarnock's Scottish Premier League clash against Hearts which happens to fall on his 21st birthday.
Despite a full program of Championship fixtures, Salah-Eddine was once again left out of the Hull City squad for their game at Watford. Meanwhile, in League Two Crewe Alexandra's game against Leyton Orient was postponed, denying Arthur Okonkwo another runout.
Now, there has been as many as 14 Arsenal loanees in action over the past week. In fact, two were in the same fixture on Saturday afternoon as Charlie Patino and Auston Trusty came up against each other in a goalless draw between Blackpool and Birmingham City with both players seeing out the full 90 minutes.
Elsewhere, Harry Clarke was in the Stoke City side that claimed a point at home to Cardiff City and although Brooke Norton-Cuffy claimed an assist for Rotherham, it was somewhat bittersweet as they crashed to a 3-1 home defeat at the hands of Bristol City.
Mazeed Ogungbo is certainly benefitting from Matthew Etherington's appointment at Crawley Town. Firstly he was recalled to the matchday squad for the ex-Tottenham and West Ham winger's first game in charge - a 2-0 win over Swindon Town - and then made his first appearance for the League Two side, albeit in a 2-0 loss at home to Hartlepool - in over a month.
Tim Akinola came off the bench to help Chesterfield beat Dorking Wanderers, Tom Smith was beaten three times as Bromley drew with Wealdstone in a six-goal thriller, but it was a weekend to forget for young goalkeeper Ovie Ejeheri as Chelmsford City lost 3-0 at St Albans City.
Nikolaj Moller was unable to prevent Den Bosch from falling to a narrow defeat away at Teltar, whilst it was mixed news for the Arsenal youngsters in Spain as Miguel Azeez missed Ibiza FC's 1-1 draw with Malaga and Marcelo Flores started for Real Oviedo against Eibar.
Nicolas Pepe and Folarin Balogun have also been in Spain in preparation for the return of Ligue 1, but with OGC Nice and Reims, respectively. The former claimed an assist in their 4-1 win over Standard Liege last Thursday and the latter featured in a 3-0 win against Sochaux.
Runar Alex Runarsson saved a penalty but conceded twice in a 45-minute runout as Alanyaspor were beaten by Fenerbahce in a friendly, Omar Rekik played the second half of Sparta Rotterdam's warm-up game and Nuno Tavares took to Instagram to show how he is preparing for his Marseille return.
READ NEXT:
Unseen England footage explains 'strange' Bukayo Saka decision as Arsenal avoid injury scare
Memphis Depay's recurring record could trigger Arsenal U-turn over 'best' January transfer
Eddie Nketiah reveals chat with Gabriel Jesus after injury as he aims to take Arsenal chance
What Martin Odegaard said to Cedric before Lyon proves Mikel Arteta right on Arsenal decision
Arsenal confident on Oleksandr Zinchenko injury amid latest Dubai training camp update
