When I say that some Arsenal stars have already booked their places in next summer’s feast of international football that is the World Cup, I mean that their national teams England and Germany have, so the likes of Mesut Ozil, Danny Welbeck and Shkodran Mustafi should be in Russia barring an injury or loss of form.
There are at least two Gunners who will be hoping to join those teams at the tournament as well, although both Jack Wilshere and Theo Walcott have a lot to do to earn a seat on the plane. Others likely to be there are Alex Iwobi and Mohamed Elneny, whose Nigeria and Egypt teams lead their groups but there are quite a few still to play.
In the South America our Colombian keeper David Ospina’s hopes will be high with his country sat in the third of four automatic qualifiers, but Alexis Sanchez is in real danger of missing out with Chile in 6fh place, although the fifth placed side will have a play-off they should win.
Another Arsenal star looking at the play-off route is Aaron Ramsey but they need to play well in their games especially against Ireland who are just a point behind. Monreal’s Spain, Xhaka’s Switzerland and Kolasinac’s Bosnia alkl look strong favourites to win their groups and will be hoping to seal the deal over the next week or so,
France are just a single point ahead of second placed Sweden but Lacazette, Giroud and Koscielny will be confident of getting the job dome against Bulgaria and Belarus, although our injured defender cannot help Les Bleus on the pitch. So it looks like there will be a strong Arsenal showing at the global celebration of the beautiful game, but which is most likely to lift the famous trophy?
D.N.