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When you're 16 matches unbeaten, any brief pause in proceedings can feel frustrating, but the two-week hiatus for the last international break of the year has felt interminable.
Thankfully it's at an end, and as far as these things go, it all went very well from our perspective. Importantly, there were no new knocks picked up, while our players shone for their respective national teams.
Unai Emery could be forgiven for breathing a sigh of relief, but now the hard work begins all over again as we gear up for a hectic point of the season heading into Christmas and the New Year.