The penultimate games of Group I all but guaranteed Martin Odegaard and Norway a spot at the World Cup, whilst Riccardo Calafiori has work to do and Karl Hein is out of contention.
Norway, Estonia, and Italy were all in action in potentially pivotal World Cup qualifiers on Thursday night, but just one Arsenal player was on the pitch between the three teams.
With Martin Odegaard still recovering from his knee injury and Riccardo Calafiori sitting out of Italy’s game with a hip complaint, Karl Hein of Estonia was the only one to make a start.
Unfortunately, Hein and Estonia were also already eliminated, and an emphatic 4-1 defeat to Norway won’t have done much to lift their spirits.
In the other game, Italy won 2-0 against Moldova without Calafiori’s help, but it’s exceedingly unlikely to be enough to allow them to overtake Norway on the final day of group action this weekend.
Norway have effectively qualified for the World Cup at this stage, only three points clear of Italy but with a goal difference advantage of +17.
For Italy to leapfrog Norway into automatic World Cup qualification on Sunday, they’d have to win against the group leaders by nine goals. Bearing in mind that the last time the two teams met, Norway won 3-0.
Barring a mammoth collapse from Norway on Sunday, Odegaard is likely to be captaining the team at the World Cup next summer. As for Calafiori and Italy, the team will have to play a play-off semi-final and final in March to try and earn their spot.