The new Arsenal signing Granit Xhaka will surely be feeling gutted today after Switzerland were knocked out of Euro 2016 by Poland, especially as it was his missed penalty in the shoot out that made the difference. He became the second Arsenal star after the Czech Republic keeper Petr Cech to exit the tournament and there could be more today, although France and the Arsenal pair of Laurent Koscielny and Olivier Giroud are strong favourites to go through against the plucky Republic of Ireland team.
The Irish may have only got through by the skin of their teeth and be strong favourites to go out today, with three days fewer than the hosts to rest and prepare, but their fans are definitely firm favourites thanks to the friendly party atmosphere that follows them around.
On the pitch, however, they will need to be much less friendly towards the French and so Koscielny and Giroud, with the centre forward back in the starting line-up after missing the last match, will need to be up for the physical battle in what could be a bruising encounter. Bruising is okay but I just hope that neither of the Gunners suffers anything worse than that.
So far we have not seen any serious injury to any Arsenal players and with just the Copa America final to be played in the USA it looks like that tournament has gone well for us (fingers crossed) and if the same is true of the Euros then we can all breathe a big sigh of relief and start gearing up for the new season.
Good luck to the French Gunners today.