Arsenal's Brazil pair head to Kolkata for a first meeting with India

The first international break of the season has sent the Arsenal squad around the world, and the club has called the gap the longest it has had between in-season club matches.

The longest gap

Arsenal count a 21-day gap between their own fixtures, with nations playing more matches over the next three weeks than a break normally allows.

Each country in the UEFA Nations League plays four matches in this window, rather than the three that mid-season breaks have traditionally set out.

A first meeting in Kolkata

Bruno Guimaraes and Gabriel Magalhaes travel with Brazil, first to Australia for back-to-back matches and then on to India.

The match at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata is the first ever played between Brazil and India, and the tour through Asia continues in November against Japan and Singapore.

Team-mates against each other

Thirteen Arsenal players are in League A, the top division of the UEFA Nations League, which is made up of four groups of four.

Jurrien Timber’s Netherlands meet Kai Havertz’s Germany on Thursday 24 September, and on Saturday 26 September Spain, with David Raya, Mikel Merino and Martin Zubimendi, face an England side holding Bukayo Saka, Ebere Eze, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ezri Konsa at Wembley Stadium.

Havertz can meet another team-mate when Germany play Greece, who have Christos Tzolis in their squad, and Tzolis and Timber could be opponents again on Thursday 1 October when Greece host the Netherlands.

A half-century for Bruno

Bruno Guimaraes is on 48 caps, so two appearances in Brazil’s three matches would bring up a half-century.

He would be the eighth player to represent Brazil while at Arsenal, after Sylvinho, Gilberto Silva, Edu Gaspar, Julio Baptista, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Magalhaes.

Two from the academy

Ceadach O’Neill goes back into the Northern Ireland squad, having made his debut in the summer against Guinea and played 11 minutes against France; Northern Ireland are in League B, with Georgia, Ukraine and Hungary to come.

James Scanlon, who joined from Manchester United in the summer, is the club’s first Gibraltarian international and, the club says, already has five goals in 24 appearances; Gibraltar face Andorra, Malta, Liechtenstein and Sao Tome and Principe.

Premier League football returns for Arsenal on Saturday 10 October, when Leeds visit the Emirates Stadium.

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