Arsenal crowned champions of the international break

Arsenal will return to Premier League action this weekend buoyant after pipping Tottenham by a point to become International Break champions.

Mercifully, the second international break of the season is now over, allowing Premier League clubs to get their players back in time for matchday eight.

Some will be returning more chipper than others. The England lads can now focus on nailing down their places in Thomas Tuchel’s squad after sealing qualification for the World Cup finals. In contrast, the Sweden boys, including big summer signings for Liverpool, Arsenal and Newcastle, are seething.

No camp will be happier than Arsenal. Not only are they top of the Premier League, but Mikel Arteta’s players enjoyed more collective success over the last week and a half than any other club, even if Spurs ran the Gunners desperately close.

How do we know that? Maths, innit.

Every international call-up takes back to their club the points won on international duty, whether they were earned in World Cup qualifiers or friendlies. Three for a win; one for a draw. Only senior call-ups count.

On that basis, we can crown Arsenal the first (and possibly last) F365 International Break champions. The shirt patches are in the post…

1. Arsenal – 74 points
England (Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze, Myles Lewis-Skelly) – 24

Spain (David Raya, Mikel Merino, and Martin Zubimendi) – 18

France (William Saliba) – 4

Netherlands (Jurrien Timber) – 6

Italy (Riccardo Calafiori) – 6

Belgium (Leandro Trossard) – 4

Sweden (Viktor Gyokeres) – 0

Denmark (Christian Norgaard) – 6

Brazil (Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Magalhaes) – 6

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2. Tottenham Hotspur – 73 points
England (Djed Spence) – 6

Wales (Ben Davies, Brennan Johnson) – 0

Northern Ireland (Jamie Donley) – 3

Netherlands (Xavi Simons, Micky van de Ven) – 12

Austria (Kevin Danso) – 3

Sweden (Lucas Bergvall) – 0

Portugal (Joao Palhinha) – 4

Spain (Pedro Porro) – 6

Italy (Destiny Udogie, Guglielmo Vicario) – 12

Argentina (Cristian Romero) – 6

Brazil (Richarlison) – 3

Senegal (Pape Matar Sarr) – 6

Ghana (Mohammed Kudus) – 6

Mali (Yves Bissouma) – 6

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3. Manchester City – 68 points
England (Nico O’Reilly, John Stones, James Trafford) – 18

Portugal (Ruben Dias, Matheus Nunes, Bernardo Silva) – 12

Norway (Oscar Bobb, Erling Haaland) – 8

Netherlands (Nathan Ake, Tijjani Reijnders) – 12

Croatia (Josko Gvardiol, Mateo Kovacic) – 8

Belgium (Jeremy Doku) – 4

Italy (Gianluigi Donnarumma) – 6

4. Liverpool – 67 points
Scotland (Andy Robertson) – 6

Northern Ireland (Conor Bradley) – 3

Germany (Florian Wirtz) – 6

France (Hugo Ekitike, Ibrahima Konate) – 8

Netherlands (Jeremie Frimpong, Cody Gakpo, Ryan Gravenberch, Virgil van Dijk) – 24

Sweden (Alexander Isak) – 0

Hungary (Milos Kerkez, Dominik Szoboszlai) – 8

Georgia (Giorgi Mamardashvili) – 0

Egypt (Mo Salah) – 6

Argentina (Alexis Mac Allister) – 6

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5. Crystal Palace – 63 points
England (Marc Guehi, Dean Henderson) – 12

Northern Ireland (Justin Devenny) – 3

France (Jean-Philippe Mateta) – 4

Spain (Yeremy Pino) – 6

USA (Chris Richards) – 4

Argentina (Walter Benitez) – 6

Colombia (Daniel Munoz, Jefferson Lerma) – 8

Trinidad (Rio Cardines) – 4

Senegal (Ismaila Sarr) – 6

Japan (Daichi Kamada) – 4

Nigeria (Christantus Uche) – 6

6. Aston Villa – 56 points
5.09 points per player

England (Ezri Konsa, Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins) – 18

Scotland (John McGinn) – 6

France (Lucas Digne) – 4

Netherlands (Donyell Malen) – 6

Belgium (Amadou Onana) – 4

Poland (Matty Cash) – 6

Sweden (Victor Lindelof) – 0

Argentina (Emi Martinez) – 6

Ivory Coast (Evann Guessand) – 6

7. Brentford – 56 points
4.66 points per player

England (Jordan Henderson) – 6

Scotland (Aaron Hickey) – 6

Republic of Ireland (Nathan Collins, Caoimhin Kelleher) – 6

Germany (Kevin Schade) – 6

Denmark (Mikkel Damsgaard) – 6

Ukraine (Yehor Yarmoliuk) – 6

Iceland (Hakon Valdimarsson) – 1

Norway (Kristoffer Ajer) – 4

Burkina Faso (Dango Ouattara) – 6

Nigeria (Frank Onyeka) – 6

Jamaica (Ethan Pinnock) – 3

8. Wolves – 53 points
Norway (Jorgen Strand Larsen, David Moller Wolfe) – 8

Czechia (Ladislav Krejci) – 1

Portugal (Jose Sa) – 4

Brazil (Andre, Joao Gomes) – 6

Uruguay (Santiago Bueno) – 6

Colombia (Yerson Mosquera) – 4

Haiti (Jean-Ricner Bellegarde) – 3

South Korea (Hee Chan Hwang) – 3

Cameroon (Jackson Tchatchoua) – 4

Nigeria (Tolu Arokodare) – 6

Zimbabwe (Marshall Munetsi, Tawanda Chirewa) – 2

Ivory Coast (Emmanuel Agbadou) – 6

9. Manchester United – 49 points
Portugal (Diogo Dalot, Bruno Fernandes) – 8

Belgium (Senne Lammens) – 4

Denmark (Patrick Dorgu) – 6

Slovenia (Benjamin Sesko) – 2

Turkey (Altay Bayindir) – 6

Brazil (Casemiro, Matheus Cunha) – 6

Paraguay (Diego Leon) – 1

Ivory Coast (Amad) – 6

Cameroon (Bryan Mbeumo) – 4

Morocco (Noussair Mazraoui) – 6

10. Nottingham Forest – 48 points
England (Elliot Anderson, Morgan Gibbs-White) – 12

Wales (Neco Williams) – 0

Scotland (Angus Gunn) – 6

Belgium (Matz Sells) – 4

Serbia (Nikola Milenkovic) – 3

Switzerland (Dan Ndoye) – 4

Brazil (Igor Jesus, John Victor) – 6

New Zealand (Chris Wood) – 1

Ivory Coast (Ibrahim Sangare, Willy Boly) – 12

11. Sunderland – 44 points
Northern Ireland (Dan Ballard, Trai Hume) – 6

Netherlands (Robin Roefs) – 6

Switzerland (Granit Xhaka) – 4

Morocco (Chemsdine Talbi) – 6

Mozambique (Reinildo Mandava) – 3

DR Congo (Noah Sadiki, Arthur Masuaku) – 6

Ivory Coast (Simon Adingra) – 6

Paraguay (Omar Alderete) – 1

Burkina Faso (Bertrand Traore) – 6

12. Bournemouth – 42 points
Wales (David Brooks) – 0

Scotland (Ryan Christie and Ben Gannon-Doak) – 12

Netherlands (Justin Kluivert) – 6

Serbia (Veljko Milosavljevic, Đorđe Petrovic) – 6

Argentina (Marcos Senesi) – 6

Ghana (Antoine Semenyo) – 6

Morocco (Amine Adli) – 6

13. Fulham – 36 points
Wales (Harry Wilson) – 0

Denmark (Joachim Andersen) – 6

Norway (Sander Berge) – 4

Belgium (Timothy Castagne) – 4

Nigeria (Calvin Bassey, Samuel Chukwueze, Alex Iwobi) – 18

USA (Antonee Robinson) – 4

14. Everton – 33 points
England (Jordan Pickford) – 6

Wales (Tom King) – 0

Republic of Ireland (Seamus Coleman, Jake O’Brien, Mark Travers) – 9

Ukraine (Vitalii Mykolenko) – 6

Guinea-Bissau (Beto) – 0

Senegal (Idrissa Gana Gueye, Iliman Ndiaye) – 12

15. Burnley – 31 points
Republic of Ireland (Josh Cullen) – 3

Netherlands (Quilindschy Hartman) – 6

Sweden (Hjalmar Ekdal) – 0

Slovakia (Martin Dubravka) – 3

Albania (Armando Broja) – 6

Tunisia (Hannibal) – 6

South Africa (Lyle Taylor) – 4

DR Congo (Axel Tuanzebe) – 3

16. Newcastle United – 30 points
England (Anthony Gordon, Dan Burn) – 12

Germany (Nick Woltemade) – 6

Italy (Sandro Tonali) – 6

Sweden (Anthony Elanga) – 0

Brazil (Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton) – 6

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17. Chelsea – 29 points
France (Malo Gusto) – 4

Portugal (Pedro Neto) – 4

Spain (Marc Cucurella) – 6

Denmark (Filip Jorgensen) – 6

Argentina (Enzo Fernandez) – 6

Brazil (Estevao) – 3

18. West Ham – 28 points
England (Jarrod Bowen) – 6

Northern Ireland (Callum Marshall) – 3

Denmark (Mads Hermansen) – 6

Greece (Dinos Mavropanos) – 0

Czechia (Tomas Soucek) – 1

Brazil (Lucas Paqueta) – 3

Senegal (El Hadji Malick Diouf) – 6

DR Congo (Aaron Wan-Bissaka) – 3

19. Brighton – 27 points
Netherlands (Bart Verbruggen, Jan Paul van Hecke) – 12

Sweden (Yasin Ayari) – 0

Belgium (Maxim De Cuyper) – 4

Italy (Diego Coppola) – 6

Cameroon (Carlos Baleba) – 4

Paraguay (Diego Gomez) – 1

20. Leeds United – 10 points
Wales (Karl Darlow, Joe Rodon, Ethan Ampadu) – 0

Sweden (Gabriel Gudmundsson) – 0

Slovenia (Jaka Bijol) – 2

Bulgaria (Ilia Gruev) – 0

Japan (Ao Tanaka) – 4

USA (Brenden Aaronson) – 4