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Mikel Arteta Drops Major Declan Rice Injury Hint, Rules Two Arsenal Players Out

Footage has emerged showing Rice provide a concerning diagnosis on his knee problem.

Grey Whitebloom

Declan Rice (right) is crucial for Mikel Arteta.
Declan Rice (right) is crucial for Mikel Arteta. / Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC/Getty Images

While desperately trying to be as coy as possible, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta inadvertently hinted at Declan Rice’s participation in training ahead of a crunch set of fixtures over the coming weeks. The news for Cristhian Mosquera and Riccardo Calafiori was not as encouraging.

Arsenal’s talismanic midfield presence was sorely missed against Aston Villa on Tuesday night. Despite the lopsided 4–1 scoreline, the Gunners struggled for most of the first half to contain Villa’s repeated surges straight through the middle of the pitch—an area notably missing Rice.

The England international was forced into a watching brief after sustaining a heavy blow on his knee during last weekend’s victory over Brighton & Hove Albion. Arteta revealed that the prodigious swelling in Rice’s knee prevented him from featuring in midweek and he would only be available if his joint returned to its normal proportions.

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Speaking on the day before Arsenal’s trip to Bournemouth this Saturday, Arteta warned: “We haven’t trained yet. Today will be the first training session probably with the players who started against Villa. We will know more this afternoon.”

Specifically on the availability of Rice, he noted: “We don’t know yet,” before tellingly adding: “We have another session today, let’s see how he comes through it and how that’s feeling. The Villa game was too early for him.”

That Rice is even back in training is a positive step. The same cannot be said for the defensive duo of Mosquera and Calafiori who, according to Arteta, “are both out.”

Cristhian Mosquera (left) and Riccardo Calafiori.
Cristhian Mosquera (left) and Riccardo Calafiori are both sidelined. / David Price/Arsenal FC/Getty Images

The Gunners still have a few defensive options to toy with—Ben White returned to action against Villa while William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhães were reunited in the heart of the backline—but the inability to rotate could come back to bite them in the long run.

Following this weekend’s trip to the south coast, Arsenal host defending champions Liverpool in a crunch Premier League clash next Thursday. The dreaded FA Cup third round rolls along three days later as the Gunners try to break a sequence of early exits in the competition—the last time they made it past the fourth round, they won the whole thing.

Arteta will have to take on the unknowable challenge of Chelsea in the Carabao Cup semifinals later this month before the conclusion of the Champions League’s league phase. Having Rice available for these fixtures will be crucial.

Rice Provides Concerning Injury Diagnosis

Fears over a lengthy layoff for Rice were heightened by the player himself. During a postmatch chat with his fellow England international Morgan Rogers, the 26-year-old was spotted relaying the details of his knee injury, gesturing effusively about the extreme nature of the swelling.

Rice can been seen to shake his head and say the word “terrible” although the wider context of the conversation is unclear. Naturally, conclusions were rushed towards far too quickly.

For now, Rice’s reaction to Friday’s training session will be the determining factor behind his involvement against Bournemouth. The Cherries are in a rotten run of form—they are yet to win a game since Halloween—but Andoni Iraola has a strong record against his former youth teammate.

The two graduates of Antiguoko Kirol Elkartea faced off twice last season in a pair of matches which produced the same winner on each occasion: Iraola. “We lost both games against them and we know the difficulty of that,” Arteta fretted this week.

“We know how good of a team they are. How they can threaten you from every angle, so we know the difficulty of the game tomorrow.” It would be a little easier with Rice available.

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Grey Whitebloom
GREY WHITEBLOOM

Grey Whitebloom is a writer, reporter and editor for Sports Illustrated FC. Born and raised in London, he is an avid follower of German, Italian and Spanish top flight football.

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