When are Arsenal's World Cup players back? Team news, injuries for Premier League Boxing Day

Dom Farrell

When are Arsenal's World Cup players back? Team news, injuries for Premier League Boxing Day image

Arsenal return to action in the Premier League with a five-point cushion at the top of the table.

Mikel Arteta’s side have a little bit more time to prepare than some of the Premier League’s other leading clubs, having lost to Brighton in the Carabao Cup last month

That's left them with a free week before taking on West Ham in a London derby at Emirates Stadium on Boxing Day (December 26) but we're now a little over 48 hours away from kickoff.

MORE: Premier League Boxing Day fixtures schedule: Matches over the Christmas period during the holidays 2022/2023

When are Arsenal’s World Cup players back?

There were 10 Arsenal players in Qatar overall, with William Saliba a part of the France squad that went all the way to the final.

Four of these have already returned to friendly action for the Gunners, with Ben White and Thomas Partey playing in the 2-1 win over AC Milan. White returned early from England’s campaign without playing a minute for Gareth Southgate’s men, while Partey’s Ghana were eliminated in the group stage.

Aaron Ramsdale, who served as backup to England No.1 Jordan Pickford, and Granit Xhaka, out in the last 16 with Switzerland, played in a 2-0 loss to Juventus. Xhaka scored an own goal in a 2-0 defeat in north London, but valuable minutes on the field still made that an overall positive experience.

Granit Xhaka
Getty Images

Are Arsenal’s World Cup players available vs West Ham in the Premier League? 

Given Saliba’s minimal role in France’s run and the extra recovery time granted by their League Cup elimination, it is reasonable to expect all of Arsenal’s Word Cup representatives to be in contention against West Ham, with the exception of Gabriel Jesus.

Brazil forward Jesus suffered a medial knee ligament injury during his country's game against Cameroon that required surgery. The former Manchester City player could be sidelined for up to four months.

Takehiro Tomiyasu nursed injury issues throughout Japan’s run to the last 16 but Arteta reported he was “running on the pitch” after the Juventus game.

All of Arsenal’s World Cup players were due back in training for the week commencing Dec. 19, with the exception of Saliba, who returned on Friday, Dec. 23 and follows Ramsdale, White and Xhaka’s lead of returning with a minimal vacation.

Getty Images

Arsenal’s World Cup players: How they fared in Qatar

Saliba has a silver medal in his pocket after a grand total of 27 minutes on the field during France’s dead rubber group stage defeat to Tunisia.

Bukayo Saka was a standout performer for England, scoring three goals and producing a magnificent individual performance in the 2-1 quarterfinal defeat to France.

Brazil also departed in the quarters, but Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli predominantly served as backup to a talent-stacked forward line led by Richarlison and Neymar.

Player Country Stage Games Mins
Matt Turner USA Last 16 4 360
Aaron Ramsdale England Quarterfinals 0 0
Ben White England Quarterfinals 0 0
William Saliba France Final 1 27
Takehiro Tomiyasu Japan Last 16 3 186
Granit Xhaka Switzerland Last 16 4 360
Thomas Partey Ghana Group stage 3 270
Gabriel Jesus Brazil Quarterfinals 3 92
Gabriel Martinelli Brazil Quarterfinals 3 111
Bukayo Saka England  Quarterfinals 4 295

Premier League 2022/23 TV channels, live streams

Region TV Streaming
Australia Optus Sport
Canada

fuboTV

Hong Kong Now TV
India Star Sports Disney+, Hotstar, JioTV
Malaysia Astro SuperSport Astro Go
New Zealand Sky Sport Sky Sport Now, Sky Go
Singapore StarHub StarHub TV+
UK Sky Sports, BT Sport NOW TV, Sky Go, Amazon Prime
USA USA Network, Telemundo, Universo fuboTV, Peacock

UK: Matches are carried across Sky Sports and BT Sport streaming and TV platforms, with select matches on Amazon Prime.

USA: Select matches are televised on USA Network (English) and Telemundo or Universo (Spanish), and all three channels can be streamed on fuboTV. The rest of the matches are streamed on NBC platform Peacock for subscribers.

Canada: Every Premier League game this season is live streaming exclusively via fuboTV in Canada.

Australia: Fans in Australia can stream every match live and on demand on Optus Sport

India: Star Sports network has the rights to show Premier League matches in India. As well as an English broadcast on Star Sports Select, select matches will be available via regional feeds on Star Sports 3 (in Bengali, English, Kannada, Malayalam), Star Sports 1 (Bangla) and Star Sports 1 (Tamil).

Dom Farrell

Dom Farrell Photo

Dom is the senior content producer for Sporting News UK. He previously worked as fan brands editor for Manchester City at Reach Plc. Prior to that, he built more than a decade of experience in the sports journalism industry, primarily for the Stats Perform and Press Association news agencies. Dom has covered major football events on location, including the entirety of Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup in Paris and St Petersburg respectively, along with numerous high-profile Premier League, Champions League and England international matches. Cricket and boxing are his other major sporting passions and he has covered the likes of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Wladimir Klitschko, Gennadiy Golovkin and Vasyl Lomachenko live from ringside.