Arsenal star Declan Rice was ruled out for the game against Chelsea, with Mikel Arteta providing a new injury update ahead of the Gunners’ Premier League game against Brighton & Hove Albion.
Declan Rice sent off during Arsenal vs. Chelsea (Image: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Mikel Arteta has provided an update on Arsenal’s Declan Rice’s injury ahead of the Premier League trip to Brighton.
The Gunners manager revealed that the midfielder was asked to leave in the second half of Sunday’s win over Chelsea after appearing to aggravate his knee during training to recover.
Rice’s fitness was a major concern after Wednesday’s trip to the Amex Stadium ended so quickly, but questions also arose regarding David Raya after the 2-1 win at the Emirates Stadium. However, Arteta was able to share encouraging news with both players.
Asked at Tuesday’s press conference if Rice was okay, Arteta said: “I hope so. He was much better today. Of course, we only have two days to prepare for the game so he hasn’t really trained, but I hope he’ll be better tomorrow. David is fine, he’s fine.”
Arsenal were without Martin Odegaard for the most recent London derby and the Norwegian captain has been plagued by fitness concerns in recent weeks.
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He appeared in last month’s game against Tottenham after recovering from a mild knee problem, but was not included in Sunday’s match, with manager Arteta explaining that he was still feeling some discomfort and decided it was too risky to include him.
Kai Havertz returned to the squad and played for 15 minutes, with Arteta providing an update on both players. In the latest assessment, he said: “Yes, Kai in particular has finished part of his session so we’re going to look at him and see if he’s OK. Martin is the other one and we’re going to see how he’s doing. We have to see how comfortable he is with certain actions.”
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Arteta later confirmed Ben White would remain sidelined. As for other injury updates, Max Dauman continued his rehabilitation from an ankle issue on Friday night, playing 45 minutes in the Under-21s game.
Mikel Merino would have been an ideal replacement if Rice was absent against the Seagulls, but he is currently sidelined with a foot injury that required surgery.
Mikel Arteta talks about the injury status of several Arsenal players (Image: Getty Images)
One encouraging comment for Arsenal was that Arteta confirmed there were no new fitness concerns, with fixtures against Brighton, Mansfield Town, Bayer Leverkusen (x2) and Everton on the horizon.
Fabian Hürzeler is similarly limited on the injury list, and with Brighton’s manager hinting at the possibility of Yassin Ayali’s return, there are only two players definitively left out.
Hürzeler said: “He trained yesterday, so I hope he responds well to the first training session. And today we have another training session. I’m sure he will be an option tomorrow.”
Adam Webster and Stefanos Tsimas are long-term casualties for Brighton, with both having undergone knee operations.
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