Mikel Arteta took part in Arsenal training as a player over the international break, though he insists it wasn’t his choice.

With a number of players away on international duty, in addition to some injuries within the squad, Mikel Arteta has admitted he had to take part in training as a player over the September break.

“It was forced! It’s nothing that I wanted to do,” Arteta told Sky Sports. “We had one or two players and some academy players that would join, [but] they could not join.

“It was a good workout, I lost some weight and I didn’t get injured as well. I did a few (tackles), but I didn’t get anybody injured.

“I don’t do it almost at all, but sometimes it’s a really good thing. When you are in you feel it and you feel the players and you understand ‘he gets it’, ‘he doesn’t get it’, ‘he gets it too late’.

“You feel the connection, the energy, who is coaching, who is not. It gives you a lot of information.”

Perhaps we’ll find out what Arteta learned in those sessions when Arsenal take on Everton on Sunday, though it’s worth mentioning again how many players were missing from training.

The Gunners had 19 players called up for international duty, albeit one was from the Arsenal u21s (Elian Quesada-Thorn) and two were loanees (Runar Alex Runarsson and Kieran Tierney).

Even so, losing 16 players from your senior squad has a pretty significant impact, with Mohamed Elneny, Jurrien Timber, and Thomas Partey all missing through injury as well.

Arteta may have got a good look at a few players, but it was unlikely to be many of those in line to start against Everton anyway.

From Arsenal’s last starting lineup, only Ben White wasn’t on international duty over the break.